


10 Moles

by baeconandeggs, pcyluciel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Mystery, Slice of Life, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 18:24:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14795615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcyluciel/pseuds/pcyluciel
Summary: "Do you want to see something interesting? Make a wish for it."





	10 Moles

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt #:** BAE348  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> **Author's Note:** Hello everybody. This is my first time writing for a fest. I really like BAE and I've decided to join it after a long hiatus in writing fic. I would like to thank Agent J a lot for helping me in beta-ing for my work. You are the best and I owe you a lot. I hope that everybody can leave some encouraging words to Agent J for helping me through this hard time of writing. Without Agent J, I would probably be dropping because my confidence level isn't that high to begin with. I hope that everybody will enjoy reading this fic and I'll work hard for the next if this came out well. Thank you readers for reading my fic. I appreciate every single one of you.  <3

**Chapter 1**  

Byun Baekhyun is the typical anime guy that everybody likes to make fun of at school. He started watching anime at the age of 18 and because he was very addicted to it, his friends begin to call him names, such as "otaku boy" and "nerd". But luckily for him, his past popularity in school got him only verbal insults and not physical. Whenever he goes to school, he would wear a hoodie jacket to cover up his face, so no one can see the dark circles surrounding his eyes. But sometimes, his 'friends' would still pull his hood down to reveal his face and laugh at him. Byun Baekhyun is the typical anime guy that everybody likes to make fun of at school. He started watching anime at the age of 18 and because he was very addicted to it, his friends begin to call him names, such as "otaku boy" and "nerd". But luckily for him, his past popularity in school got him only verbal insults and not physical. Whenever he goes to school, he would wear a hoodie jacket to cover up his face, so no one can see the dark circles surrounding his eyes. But sometimes, his 'friends' would still pull his hood down to reveal his face and laugh at him.

"Hey! Look who's here? It's the otaku boy." His classmates called out when Baekhyun entered the classroom. Baekhyun just glanced up at them and walked to his seat near the window.

During lessons, he would either be staring out of the window or sleeping instead of paying attention to what his teacher was saying. Kim Jongdae, who is sitting behind of him, would throw paper balls at him to get his attention back to the class, every once in a while. The teachers noticed the changes in his behavior and consulted his mother about it, awhile after.

"Mrs. Byun, your son has been sleeping during lessons and this isn't the first time that it has happened. He's been caught multiple times, already. Did something happen?" His teacher asked concerned, keeping his professional tone.

"NO, I DIDN'T! I was just resting my head on the table!" Baekhyun interrupted, but he was shushed immediately by his mother.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ms. Kim. But everything is alright at home, nothing out of the ordinary. Thanks for your concern. I will teach this boy a lesson when we get home." Despite Baekhyun, who always keep denying the fact that he slept during lessons, his mother would still apologize to the teacher for his mistakes.

"I can't stop you from teaching him a lesson or be someone who tells you how to raise your child, but please do remember to have more time for him. Kids need attention sometimes and sleeping in class isn't one of the good ways to get it. I do hope that this behavior will change in the future as it might affect his grade badly." His teacher sighed, as his mother apologized again.

Although being lectured by his mother and teacher for his change in behavior, Baekhyun would still rush into his room, whenever he reached his home every day, right after school. His parents got more worried about him, he would finish his meals as fast as he could, so that he could continue watching his anime after that.

His mother tried to have a chatting session with him one time, but she was shocked when her son brought up a topic about him being home schooled from then on. At first, his mother rejected the idea, because having to be home schooled, meant giving her son more time to get sucked into the world of anime. And since they are blaming puberty and Anime for the change in his behavior, she couldn't allow his son to dive deeper into it.

But after an event that happened, she finally saw the reason behind the request and granted his wish. She requested the school for special home schooling and they came to an agreement, that as long as his grades wouldn't drop, he would be allowed to be home schooled. His mother used all her might to convince the school that he wouldn't disappoint and after agreeing, Baekhyun was very thankful that his mother finally accepted his idea.

Although being home schooled, Baekhyun's grades didn't drop as promised. He would go to school just for exams and insults which never stopped, before rushing home once the bell rings. Hearing ugly words and rumors about him, made Baekhyun uncomfortable to stay in school for longer. Soon, his friends and classmates started keeping a distance from him, because of his absence and he started rejecting hanging out with them too, unless it was going to his house for a game or two. Baekhyun tried to explain his situation to his friends but none of them believed him because they thought he watched too much anime,  _Death Not_ e, and made weird excuses to reject the hangouts.

"So... What makes you so special to be home schooled? I want to be home schooled too. Having to stay at home for the whole day and do nothing but to game and watch anime. This is THE LIFE!" Jongdae asked as the loading screen came out.

"Well... I know that if I tell you this, you will freak out, but......" Baekhyun hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't keep this way from his best friend.

"I can see people's death." Baekhyun turned to Jongdae and gave him a serious stare in the eyes, waiting for his reaction.

"Dude, you watched too much of Death Note, that is affecting your brain." Jongdae knocked Baekhyun's head with the controller.

"I am serious! Why don't you believe me? I can even tell you yours, but I don't want to make you live your life in panic, so let just stay as it is." Baekhyun rubbed his head.

"And you are my best friend, why would I want to lie to you? Will I get money out of it if I lied to you about your death?" Jongdae shook his head and continued gaming.

"It's because we are best friends, so I know you well. You are a prankster, Baek." Baekhyun sighed and smashed the buttons on his controller.

"Only my parents believed me. I guess the topic ends here. TAKE THAT!!" Jongdae only laughed and continued to play the game. After a few hours of gaming, it's time for his best friend to go home.

"So, tell me, what is the REAL reason behind your home schooling? The teachers told us that you have a disease or something that it is unsafe to be in school, that's why you had to stay at home." Jongdae questioned while putting his shoes on.

"GO HOME! YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND ME, A HOLE!" Baekhyun kicked Jongdae playfully as he exited the house. But before Jongdae leaves, Baekhyun warned, "Just be careful with the food you eat."

Yes. The reason behind his absence in school is because Baekhyun could see the details of others' death. It started when he was 18 and a series of things happened. After the events, Baekhyun decided to lock himself out of social life or to be exact, Human face to face interaction.

And when he learned about the anime, Death Note, Baekhyun began to feel at ease in the anime world. Because just like trading your life with the Death God in Death Note, Baekhyun is able to see the Death details. But Baekhyun doesn't remember the trade since he only got the power after he woke up on his 18th birthday.

'With great power comes great responsibility.' Baekhyun finally knows what this meant. But he isn't ready to face the responsibility yet, that's why he hid himself away from the power he possessed. And the only place that he found peace was through the computer screen, where no details are floating around anywhere.

One day, he accidentally stumbled across a remake version of Death Note into a Korean Drama. And since he is a big fan of that anime, he decided to give the drama a try and watched it on the weekends when his mother wouldn't pester him to study.

The actor who played the character, "Kira", caught his attention as he played the character very well, that Baekhyun thought the man was Kira himself. When Baekhyun was done with the series, he went online to search for the actor's name.

"Park Chanyeol. Born on November 27, 1992. Wow! He is at the same age as me. Oh! He has acted in so many dramas already. What have I been doing in my life?" Baekhyun commented as he slowly scrolled the biography of the said actor. Feeling that the biography isn't enough to satisfy his own curiosity of the actor, Baekhyun decided to search more in depth about him. Soon, he was glued to his monitor from day till night because of chasing drama after drama that Chanyeol played in, no matter how small the role was.

"Byun Baekhyun. You have been hiding in your room for far too long. You should at least go out and have some vitamin D! Maybe wear a hood or glasses to cover yourself if you want to, but please just go out and have a walk or something. You are worrying your father and me." His mother nagged for the 9th time while leaving his lunch beside his mouse.

"Thanks Mom." Baekhyun beamed without looking away from the drama. "This drama is good; do you want to watch it with me?"

"Can't you just look at me for once?"

"Mom, you know I can't. I'll see your death if I do. And it isn't great to always have a reminder of when and how you will die." Baekhyun pouted slightly and looked into the mirror to see his mother's reflection.

His mother sighed and sat down behind him. She wished that she could help him out in any way, but she couldn't. She doesn't know when her son started having all these powers, but witnessing her son saving people's lives and getting himself hurt is hurting her too. Once she tried to help him so he could avoid the pain, but she experienced the pain herself and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. She just wanted him to be a normal child who goes out and plays soccer with his friends in the fields and coming home to have family time again.

She combed his hair and sighed, "When can we finally have some eye contact again?"

**Chapter 2**

**_Back in 6 May 2009_ **

It all begins on Baekhyun's 18th birthday. Others may call it a blessing but to Baekhyun, it is a pain in the bottom.

That very day, he woke up and started seeing numbers and letters floating above his mother's head. At first, he thought that he was dreaming because the words are floating everywhere and when he focused on them, they gathered up into a sentence.

**_'14:28, 15 Aug 2034, Hit and Run accident at traffic lights crossing of Gangnam district'_ **

Baekhyun was shocked that he rolled and accidentally fell off the bed. Feeling the pain, he knew that it wasn't a dream. He rubbed his eyes harder as his mother continued to lecture him on his bad habit of waking up late.

He blinked a few more times before the numbers and letters started floating messily above his mother's head again. He reached out to try and touch the number, but his hand went through the words like they weren't there at all.

"What are you doing?" His mother slapped his hands away, causing him to snap out from the train of thoughts.

"Get up and be ready in 15 minutes. Your cousins are already on their way here. And I don't think that would you want them to see you still in your pajamas." She closed the door as she made her way out of his room.

Slapping his own face, Baekhyun thought that it was all a mistake and he was still dreaming. He peeked at the mirror, afraid that he will see something above his own head, but what surprised him was just his ugly bed hair. He couldn't see any numbers nor letters above his own head. Still feeling creeped out, he quickly got dressed up. He wanted to double check it again.

Running out of his room like a madman, he looked around to find out that his father had the same letters and words above his head. Still not believing at what he sees, Baekhyun took a step back and rubbed his eyes harder.

"Oh look! The birthday boy is awake. Happy birthday!" His father held out his hand for a high-five, but Baekhyun ran out of the house instead. He gasped at the sudden reaction and called out for his son, but Baekhyun didn't turn around.

As Baekhyun ran out and tripped when he saw the person that was coming had the same things floating above his head. Baekhyun screamed when the guy offered to help him up and crawled away.

"Go away! Don't come near me!" He started freaking out.

The man was shocked at Baekhyun's scream and didn't have the time to react when Baekhyun started sprinting away from him. Baekhyun keep shaking his head as he ran. He is still not believing what he is seeing. All sorts of numbers and letters floating everywhere above passerby's heads. Everything was giving him a headache and it was too much to register for his little brain. He wished that he could just wake up from this nightmare and see none of those letters again.

After running and screaming for a few minutes, Baekhyun dropped to his knees, as his aching legs gave away. He couldn't run anymore and he panted heavily as his tears flooded his eyes. His parents managed to follow his screams to find his whereabouts and tracked him to the park, a few blocks away from their house.

"Are you okay, son?" His mother asked him when she finally caught up with him. Baekhyun was shivering when she pulled him into a hug. She had never seen Baekhyun go insane before and this is scaring her too much. His mother reassured him as she stroked his back to calm him down.

"Mommy's here. Don't worry. I'll protect you."

"What's wrong? Why are you screaming?" His father asked. He picked Baekhyun up and slowly walked him home as the boy continued to cry his eyes out in his mother's embrace. Baekhyun didn't answer and his parents told him to get some rest in his room until his relatives arrive.

When his relatives arrived, Baekhyun was greeted by more numbers and letters floating above their heads. Each of them has a different one. Feeling stressed out, Baekhyun hid in his room for the whole party. Despite feeling embarrassed, his parents entertained the guests by themselves without the birthday boy, since the event that happened this morning gave the two of them a shock of their lives as well. He was only being forced to appear at the cake cutting time. Baekhyun had his head down throughout the songs and cheers just to avoid seeing the numbers and letters.

"Look at the shy Birthday boy. Come on! Make a wish!"

The only wish that he could think of was to get rid of the ability to see flying number and letters, which he gained this morning. That's when he remembered that he was asked a strange question last night, before he blacked out and woke up in his bed. Those words were:

**_"Do you want to see something interest_ ** **_ing_ ** **_? Make a wish for it."_ **

Without uttering a word, Baekhyun ran out of the party and back to the bus stop, that he dropped off last night. He looked around, but he couldn't find anyone.

"Come out! Come out now! I don't want this anymore! Take it away from me! I take my words back!" He shouted at the air and only to be answered by the silence in the wind.

Baekhyun waved his hands around like a madman, that's when he noticed that all his fingers had moles on them, one on each finger. They weren't there before, they had magically appeared, he didn't know if it was connected to his wish. The moles weren't the small little dot type, they were so noticeable that he thought it was an ink leakage from his black marker, that he used the day before. He was wondering why he didn't notice them since the morning and held his hands up in the light to do a double check if they were real. Then an old lady stepped out of the bus and accidentally bumped into him.

"Ouch!" He whined and glanced at her, but the numbers and letters above the old lady's head were turning red and Baekhyun decided to focus on it, because it was different from what he already saw so far, maybe after going red it would disappear.

**_'20:56, 6 May 2009, Car accident at streets of_ ** **_Yeongdeungpo_ ** **_district'_ **

It took Baekhyun a long while to read them. While he was wondering what he was reading, a car came out of nowhere and slammed into the old lady in front of him. Baekhyun gasped and fell back when he saw the words bolded in bright red above the lifeless body of the old lady and they flashed out loud like they are the neon signboard in the dark street.

He looked at his watch and noticed that the time is actually 8:56PM. Tears began to fall again when he looked up to see the driver stepping out of the car with an injury on his head. Another set of numbers and letters was floating above the man's head and Baekhyun vision was too blurred out to see them.

"Call an ambulance please!" The man shouted at him as he fell to the ground, unconscious, but Baekhyun was too afraid to move when he just witnessed the old lady being killed in front of his eyes.

"What happened here?" His parents ran towards him and picked Baekhyun up from the ground as they made him sit at the bus stop, while the other calls for ambulance.

"Are you hurt anywhere, baby? Please tell me that you are alright." His mother cupped his cheeks as Baekhyun just stared at her while his tears fell.

"Mom... She died... I..." Baekhyun finally spoken, but was speechless at the same time and his mother hugged him to comfort him.

"We couldn't find you and we thought that it was you when we heard a loud bang. Thank god that you are safe and sound." His father ruffled Baekhyun's head but Baekhyun only shook his head.

"I saw her get killed." Baekhyun cried out.

"And I saw that it was coming, but I couldn't stop her." He tried to say what was happening to him.

"No one can stop a moving car, my baby. Don't put it on yourself." His mother patted his back a few times and Baekhyun was just too overwhelmed to argue with his mother. Baekhyun wanted to make sure that what he saw is a warning and he wanted to confirm his logic again. Even though he wasn't sure whether he was ready for another death in front of his eyes, so he kept the idea away.

It took Baekhyun a few days to pick up some courage and go out again, after being traumatize by the accident. He had to hide behind his mother for protection and looked out for only the turning red numbers and letters.

When he was about to reach the market that his mother wanted to go, he heard someone screaming and pointed at a building's rooftop. They looked up and saw a man standing at the edge and looking like he was about to jump. Baekhyun couldn't see the details clearly, but he can see that the numbers and letters were turning red above his head.

"Don't look!" His mother covered his eyes before the guy jumped off the building and killed himself.

Baekhyun had never seen death in his whole life before he started seeing the strange things floating above people's head, but after he saw them, he felt like he was a magnet for dying people. It was already the second time that he saw the death of someone and the dying man helped him confirmed his theory.

_'The numbers and letters must be a warning_ _about people's death. And when they_ _are_ _turning red, that means the person is about to die.' Baekhyun thought to himself._

**Chapter 3**

After the events, Baekhyun began to be afraid of having contact with Humans. To be exact, seeing dying humans and knowing that death is approaching them soon. He tried to hint his mother about this once but she couldn't get the hint. So Baekhyun decided to keep it to himself and avoid as much as he could.

One night, some thoughts appeared in his mind as he was laying on his bed:

_'This isn't the right way. I can't avoid human contact for the rest of my life. I wonder what will happen if I try to stop a person from dying? Will the numbers and letters disappear for good? Or will I be the one dying instead? This is driving me crazy. Maybe I should try to stop one and see what will happen next. I hope that I won't die.'_

On the next day, Baekhyun was determined to find out the answer to his question and went to the mall after school. During the search of turning red numbers and letters, he bumped into his gaming gang, who happened to be hanging out in the mall too.

"Hey Baekhyun. What are you doing here?" Sehun, one of the gang members, called out when he saw Baekhyun looking around as though he was a lost child searching for his mother.

"Oh! I'm looking for something." Baekhyun walked up to them and turned his head around a few more times before looking back at Sehun.

"What are you looking for? Do you want to follow us to the PC Room for some games? I heard that there is a new release." Sehun locked Baekhyun's head in a headlock position and casually pulled the latter, despite him struggling and rejecting the offer.

"Ah! Sehun-ah. No. I don't want to play. I am doing something very important right now. Let go of me." Baekhyun tried to free himself from the grip but failed horribly.

"You know what? I have something better and more fun. Do you want to hear it out?" Baekhyun quickly said before he got pulled into the PC room by his friends. Sehun stopped and released the latter by the door.

"What can be better than games?" His friend asked and Baekhyun cleared his throat.

"I can predict the future. I know that you don't believe me right now but just give me a chance to prove myself to you." Baekhyun backed away as he sees his friends ready to pounce onto him.

"Wait! Hold on! Trust me. I will show it to you. Just give me some time." He begged and his friends exchanged glances.

"This better be good or I'll kill you." Sehun playfully punched Baekhyun in the stomach and sighed. After all, they had lots of time to spare since they had no homework for that day. Therefore, the gang followed Baekhyun around the mall and finally, Baekhyun found an old lady with groceries walking out of the mall with turning red numbers and letters.

"There. Let's follow her. We are her guardian angels now and we need to protect her." Baekhyun pointed at her and walked behind her, but still keeping a distance away so she won't notice them.

"Are you out of your mind? What do you think this is? Game of guardian angels? What if she finds out that we are following her? Baekhyun, I think this is a bad idea since we look like we are going to rob her." Sehun questioned as he followed behind Baekhyun while making sure that they are not getting any attention. Despite being dumbfounded, the gang still followed closing behind Baekhyun. They are famous for doing silly and stupid things together so following Baekhyun into this isn't something new to them.

"No. Just wait for a little while more. Before the traffic lights over there, let's go and help her with her groceries." Baekhyun was about to run towards the old lady but was stopped by Sehun.

"What are you doing? Leave that old lady alone." Sehun covered Baekhyun's mouth and hid behind a wall before the gang got attention focused on them. Baekhyun pulled Sehun's hands away and started panicking.

"Sehun! This is serious! We need to stop her from going down the stairs! Something is going to happen to her after she crossed that road. Trust me on this one, buddy. I bet my life on this to save her. If we let her cross, she will fall to her death at the stairs over there!" Baekhyun shouted and the whole gang just stared at him, shocked. They can sense the seriousness in his tone and Baekhyun knew that he scared them with the truth. Baekhyun didn't want to say it out loud because he knew that either they won't believe him or they will start judging him, just like how anybody would when they hear weird things like that. But he just couldn't let another person die in front of him. Not after being so determined to find an answer.

Instead of backing out, Sehun and the gang decided to trust Baekhyun for this one and followed as he instructed. They wanted to see what do the latter has up his sleeves. If what he said is true, they will be saving the old lady's life. But if it's false, they are still helping the old lady to get home safely. Either way, it will be a good deed. Thus, the gang agreed to be in this "stupid" operation to save the old lady.

They walked up to the old lady when she was about to cross the road, offered help to take her groceries and walking her home. Although being rejected countless times, the boys lied that it is something that they will need to do in order to complete their mission for their boy scout activity and took the groceries out of her hands swiftly. Offering his hands to the old lady, Baekhyun held onto her hands gently but firmly so her hand won't slip out of his.

"Thank you so much, young men. I hope that you will complete your mission fast." The old lady thanked them as they crossed the road and walked towards the flight of stairs that is leading downwards.

"That's enough. I can manage it from here." The old lady wanted to collect her groceries back but Baekhyun refused to let her hands go.

"It's okay! We can send you home together since we are free now. And you have helped us to complete our mission so we have to make sure that you reach home safely before we go. Don't worry. We will leave once you have entered your house safely." Baekhyun held onto her hands tighter. The numbers and letters above her head started to turn brighter red as they approached the stairs. It is just a minute before her time is up and Baekhyun will try to stop her from dying with all his might. Even if it means risking his life for it.

"Are you sure about that idea? It will take a while for me to reach home since I live quite a distance away from the market." The old lady said as she stood in front of the flight of stairs. Baekhyun can already imagine her falling and rolling down to her death by just standing there. The countdown to her death is just a few seconds away and Baekhyun's grip on her hand got tighter and tighter.

"We are sure. Please believe us! We are from the boy scout and helping people is one of our nature." Sehun lied together as he saw Baekhyun slowly stiffened up in his position. He doesn't know why is Baekhyun acting so weird today but he rubbed Baekhyun on the back to relax his body and led the way down the stairs with the others.

"What a good boy. I am sure that your boy scout leader trained you well and will be proud to hear your achievements." The old lady began to walk down the stair along with Baekhyun holding her hand. 

When she is just about to take her 5th step, she slipped and fell forward. Baekhyun threw himself to catch her with his body and held onto the handrail to prevent the both of them from rolling down the stairs together.

Gasping loudly, the others quickly ran up and held onto the both of them just before Baekhyun’s hand slipped off the railing due to the weight and force. He saw the numbers and letters dissolved in front of his eyes and the old lady is clinging onto him with her dear life.

"Thank you so much, young boy! If I've fell, I'll probably be a goner. Thank you." The old lady praised Baekhyun for his quick reaction and his friends were all impressed by his reaction too.

"Are you alright, old lady?" Sehun asked and did a quick check on the both of them.

"Yes, I am. Thanks to your friend here." She gave Baekhyun's shoulder as pat which snapped out the latter from the shock.

"I'm glad that I have enough time to react. I was afraid that I will be too late." Baekhyun patted his own chest to ease his fast beating heart.

"Old lady, you have to be careful since you are walking down this flight of stairs often." One of his friends warned before they continued to walk down the stairs.

"Ouch!" The old lady winced as she tried to take a step. She didn't die but she sprained her ankle instead. Baekhyun wanted to help but he winced too when he tried to move his wrist. Due to the impact, Baekhyun sprained his wrist as well. Sehun heard the both of them and bent down before the old lady.

"I'll help you down." Sehun offered and passed the groceries to Baekhyun.

"You don't have to! I can walk." The old lady declined, but Sehun refused to stand up.

"I think it's better that we help you down the stairs. My friend here is a stubborn person when it comes to helping people." Baekhyun patted Sehun's back to signal the old lady to get up. Sehun glanced at Baekhyun as though telling him to be careful of what he says. Baekhyun just laughed it off and helped the old lady up onto his back and supported her as the three of them made their way down the stairs safely.

When Baekhyun reached the bottom of the stairs, he felt a poking pain on his right pinky finger and he watched the mole on it disappeared. He tried to rub the other moles to make them disappear as well, but that only caused his fingers to turn red instead.

"What are you doing, idiot?" Sehun called out when he saw Baekhyun not moving for a few seconds. Baekhyun shook his head and caught up with the gang before they safely reached the old lady's house. 

When they arrived, an old man walked out of the house to greet them. He nagged at the lady for going groceries shopping without him and ended up getting herself hurt, but both of them thanked the gang before going back to their house.

"What happened back there?" Sehun asked when the whole gang walked back to the mall for some games. Baekhyun raised his brow and Sehun poked Baekhyun's wrist causing him to wince.

"You didn't plan all this, did you?" Sehun continued to poke Baekhyun's wrist to tease him.

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun backed away from him and kicked the other away when he approached to tease more.

"You said you can predict the future from the start and suddenly having all the things happening. Are you doing a prank on us? Spill it!" Sehun locked Baekhyun's head into a headlock position again and looked around to find any hidden cameras.

"Hello! Did we do well? The prank is over now. Show yourself!" Sehun waved around randomly and Baekhyun pushed him away.

"What are you doing? Stop being crazy. Why will I set up a prank like that to hurt an old lady and myself? Did you see how dangerous it was back there? We could've rolled down the stairs together and get ourselves killed!" Baekhyun snapped.

"I think you are the crazy one here. I mean if it's not all set up, then explain yourself. We are not here to do free labor like a boy scout to earn badges. We aren't even in the boy scout team to begin with." Sehun shouted back.

"Like I said already, I can predict the future. And you were the one who doesn't believe in me, so I proved it to you. You wanted to be in this, not me. I didn't force you to do it." Baekhyun tried to explain himself.

"Predict the future? Alright, then can you predict this?" Sehun swung his fist but the other members ran back to hold the both of them away from each other before Sehun's fist landed on Baekhyun's arm.

"Hold up! What are you doing?" The gang members quickly separated the both of them in a distance.

"For the last time, I didn't get you involved in this. I don't know why you are so angry at me for it. If you really want to know the truth, then it is that I can see other people's death details, okay? I saw the old lady's. She should've been dead a few minutes ago with that fall from the stairs and I was trying to stop it from happening. And you decided to join me in this and I couldn't stop you anyway, so I've let you do it too."

"What crap are you talking about? Are we in a fairytale now? What do you mean by seeing other's death? How about taking a look at mine? Tell me how I will be dying then. I didn't carry that old lady down the stairs just so you can tell me that you are 'saving' the old lady from dying." Sehun revoked.

Baekhyun's face fell when he heard Sehun wanting to know his own death. Not because of how brutal Sehun's death was, but because of Sehun's death will be just 10 months away from today. How can he tell his friend that he is going to die from stabs in his body with a knife just 10 months' time? He doesn't know what the cause of the stabbing was nor how to avoid it, if he told Sehun.

"You don't want to know it." Baekhyun turned away and shut his eyes. He could imagine his friend being stabbed multiple times in the stomach and every other part of his body before falling lifelessly to the ground to bleed to his death. Baekhyun isn't ready for it. Neither does he want to get Sehun paranoid for his life for the next 10 months.

"I gave you a chance to prove yourself, but you decided to throw it away. What is this now? Suddenly, losing your powers?" Sehun continued to revoke. He doesn't know what got into his head today, but he swore that he wasn't this hot-tempered kind of person before. He blamed his aching body after carrying the old lady for too long for his behavior.  After realizing that everything is getting out of hand, Sehun turned around and decided to end the argument.

"You know what? If doing all these 'saving the day' stuff is making you happy, then count me out next time. I'm sorry for being so angry at you for it, but if you want to play some games, remember to hit us up." Sehun stomped away and the other gang members just stared at both of them.

"Follow him. Make sure that he doesn't do anything silly." Baekhyun ordered the others.

"Are you sure that you are okay?" They asked Baekhyun and he nodded.

"We'll call you again soon. Take care, buddy." The gang members ran up to catch Sehun and left Baekhyun alone in the middle of the streets. He wanted to tell Sehun to be careful of what he wished for but how is he going to tell it? He just couldn't let those words out of his mouth. The only way to stop him from his death was the same way he saved the old lady.

Baekhyun walked home and felt a slight headache after everything that happened today. He stared at his hand and tried rubbing his fingers hard with soap, but he still failed to remove the moles on the other 9 fingers. That's when everything started to form a logical explanation in his mind:

_'Since saving the old lady just now will cause_ _a_ _mole on my finger_ _to_ _disappear_ _,_ _but not the numbers_ _and_ _letters. That means that every time I save someone from dying, the mole_ _s_ _on my finger_ _s_ _will disappear too! So, if I save_ _10 people, all the moles on my hands will disappear completely and maybe the irritating numbers and letters will go away.'_

Baekhyun held up his hand and looked at them again.

"I need to try again soon, but first let's fix this sprained wrist. It hurts so much." Baekhyun massaged his wrist and recalled the events that happened today. Sehun did call him later in the night to apologize for his bad temper and both of them even played some games together.

"How am I going to tell you that you are going to die in 10 months' time?" Baekhyun questioned himself before he fell asleep.

**Chapter 4**

After a few weeks of recovery, Baekhyun's wrist got better and he decided to save another person to prove that his theory was right. According to it, all he needed to do was to save 10 people in order to get rid of the moles along with the numbers and letters. 

Although it had been a few weeks since Baekhyun started to see those numbers and letters, he was still not used to have them around all the time, because it was a whole mess when he entered a crowded area, especially when he was in school. And just like before, he witnessed a few people walking to their own death when he couldn't help them out, because of his situation. It's slowly becoming a nightmare that haunts him even when he is awake. That's why Baekhyun wanted all to end as soon as possible before he goes insane. 

For the second person, Baekhyun didn't have to go a long way to find and to save. He was on his way back home from school and a guy was dozing off behind his steering wheel in his car during the traffic lights. He was waiting for the lights to turn green when he saw the car slowing down to a stop beside him. When he was looking around and the turning bright red numbers and letters caught his attention. Baekhyun stared at it for a while and they formed a sentence stating that the guy will be dying in the next minute. 

Without hesitation, Baekhyun ran towards the car and banged on the window loudly, causing the driver to jerk awake. Baekhyun signaled him to unwind his window and the driver did. 

"What's wrong, kid?" The driver asked while yawning.

"Can I have a ride home? It's an emergency." Baekhyun begged and the guy blinked a few times to register what he was trying to say.

"What do you think I am?" The driver rolled his eyes and rewind the window up. Baekhyun gasped and stuck his hand into the car to prevent the window from fully closed. 

"Ah! Please! It is very urgent!" Baekhyun winced and the driver quickly unwind the window to release Baekhyun's hand.

"Kid, you are really crazy, you know that? Why are you doing this to me? I am in a rush too. Why don't you pester another car for a ride?" The driver shook his head and the lights turned green. 

Just then, a truck ran the lights on the opposite side of the road and Baekhyun watched the countdown above the driver's head disappears. Then he started to back away from the car. 

"You know what? It's okay. If you don't want to help me, it's fine now. Just be careful when you are driving. Don't doze off behind the wheels because you will get killed." Baekhyun held onto his arm and crossed the road. 

Watching the mole on his left pinky disappear in front of his eyes, Baekhyun felt a step closer to his goal. The driver didn't notice that if he would have speed off the moment the lights turn green, he would be under the truck by now. Baekhyun saved the guy and he felt satisfied despite being hurt again. 

A few minutes later, Baekhyun began to gasp for air. He doesn’t know what is causing him to be breathless, but he started panting out of the blue. Holding onto the wall for support, he concentrated in his breathing and felt a heavy weight on his chest as though someone just punched him hard in that area. After deep breathing for about 15 minutes, Baekhyun felt the weight being lifted and he was able to breathe normally again. He quickly dismissed it as a panic attack from the previous event and continued his way home. 

The third person didn’t come as easy as the second one. Baekhyun had to follow the lady all the way to the said train station and watch her carefully before her time was up. He lied to his mother that he was going out with his friends that day and saw the office lady when he was on the bus to the mall. Her numbers and letters weren’t turning red at the time when Baekhyun saw her, because she was a few hours away from the stated time. It was Baekhyun who focused on them that made him noticed that her time is about to be up soon. 

Baekhyun watched the numbers and letters above the lady's head slowly turns red as her time slowly ticks away. Arriving at the train station, Baekhyun monitored her behavior. She looked depressed and she was on her phone talking to someone at a corner of the station. Keeping a safe distance away from her, Baekhyun sat down and acted like he was browsing his own phone while not having too much eye contact with her. 

The numbers and letters began to turn red when she hung up her phone. After a few seconds, she started sobbing quietly. Baekhyun wanted to give her a shoulder to cry on even though she is much older than him, but he decided to not disturb her and let her cry it out first. 

Shifting closer to the lady, Baekhyun saw that she stopped crying when the timer reached the 3 minutes mark. She took out her phone again and wiped her tears before starting to type something into it. Baekhyun stopped just a few steps away from her and acted like he was waiting for his friend when the lady sighed loudly before staring at the train tracks. 

At that moment, Baekhyun already knew what was going to happen next. He looked around and saw the vending machine was just a few meters away from the both of them. Then he ran towards it and quickly got a drink before approaching the lady again. It was then the lady stood up and began to walk towards the tracks. Baekhyun ran faster and bumped into the lady with the drink and purposely spilling it onto her clothes before she could reach the end of the platform to jump off. 

"I'm sorry!" Baekhyun quickly apologized and pulled her away from the tracks, taking out some tissues to help her dry her clothes. 

"Watch where you are running, boy! Look at what you have done! Now I'm all wet and dirty! Do you know how much I spend on this dress? How am I supposed to go to work now?" The lady pushed Baekhyun's hands away and quickly dried herself with more tissues.

Baekhyun kept apologizing and watched the numbers and letters disappeared when the time was up. Though the whole incident did cause a little commotion and a few of the commuters turned their heads towards them, but Baekhyun did extinguished her suicide thoughts. Luckily for him, the lady wasn't in the mood to gain too much attention on herself so she quickly dismissed the commotion and ran to the restroom to clean up.

Baekhyun quickly clean up the floor before getting another round of scolding from the cleaner. He checked his hand and the mole on his right ring finger slowly faded away. He then did a double check at himself and was surprised that he didn't get hurt this time. Feeling like he just won a game, Baekhyun took the train home happily. On his way back, he continued to look around for the fourth person. 

10 minutes later, he felt a sharp pain on his neck and he massaged it to ease the pain, but the pain was only getting stronger every time he stopped. A sudden realization hit him when the pain got to the point that it feels like his neck was about to break. 

 _'Is this related to the people I've saved?'_ He thought as his head started to pound. He wanted to save another person again to prove all his theory, but the headache and neck pain are stopping him from doing it now. Thus, he decided to go home and take some painkillers before proceeding with the next phase of his plan. 

The pain only faded away slowly after a few days and Baekhyun couldn't sit up straight with that neck pain of his. He had to take a few painkillers to lessen the pain before he could even start his day. During this period, Baekhyun started to avoid his friends and going home straight after school so that he could take another painkiller to ease the pain. 

The numbers and letters were starting to get into his head and they were getting more and more aggressive day after day. One moment, they were turning red and the next they were floating everywhere like nothing happened before. They are making Baekhyun see hallucination of the people dying in front of him when he stared at one for too long, even though the death could be years later. Baekhyun had seen the hallucination of all his classmates' and teachers' deaths during lessons and it is bothering him a lot, the fact that he couldn't focus during classes.

The fourth person was a quick and short one, because Baekhyun didn't want to stay out for too long. A kid was about to jaywalk across the road and Baekhyun pulled him back to prevent him from crossing. He got angry at Baekhyun for doing it and Baekhyun explained to him that the car wasn’t showing signs of stopping, hence he pulled the kid back before he could cross it. The kid and Baekhyun watched the car pass them without slowing down and he felt a wave of guilt for being angry at Baekhyun.

"Just watch where you are walking and don't ever challenge a car. You could have been hit by it if I didn't stop you." Baekhyun nagged as the kid apologized. 

That night, Baekhyun felt a wave of numbness shooting up from the feet, up to his thighs. He wasn't able to walk after sitting down in front of his computer. He was about to blame the pain for sitting in front of his computer for too long until he remembered that he saw the hallucination of the jaywalking kid being hit by the car and breaking his legs before he bled to death. Another wave of headache hit Baekhyun and he had to take more painkillers before heading to bed early in the night.

It's been months since Baekhyun last saved a person due to the pain. He began to feel the side effect of saving people and it hurts a lot. The hallucination of deaths is becoming clearer than before and Baekhyun could see the moment of that person before they die, if he stared at the numbers and letters for too long. 

Thus, Baekhyun started to skip school and went to the PC room to play with his gang to avoid seeing the deaths of his classmates replaying themselves every time when he was trying to look at the whiteboard. At least hiding behind the computer screen gave Baekhyun an escape from reality. He couldn't see any death happening in pictures and videos through the monitor, but every time reality hits him in the face when they are saying their farewells at the end of the day with Sehun and his death starts to play above his head. 

Baekhyun tried to avoid it every time it started playing, but he knew that he couldn't escape from it for long, because the time for his dear friend is running out. Therefore, one day, he decided to stare at it and try to remember whatever he could from it. He wanted to help despite knowing that he will get hurt again after saving him. 

The day finally came and Baekhyun called Sehun out so he could monitor the latter closely. He was going to help his friend and avoid his death at all cost. 

"Sehun-ah! Let's go to the PC room and play the game we did last week." 

Baekhyun pulled Sehun into the PC room without letting the latter react when they met up. He remembered that he saw Sehun getting stabbed in a dark alley and he had a few bruises on his body. So Baekhyun concluded that Sehun probably got into a fight and the other decided to end it with a knife. Before that time comes, all Baekhyun needed to do is stop Sehun from leaving the PC room pass the hour he saw. As long as he stayed in the room, it will all be safe for his buddy. 

"What are you thinking?" Sehun snapped his fingers and bringing Baekhyun back to reality and out of his train of thoughts. 

"Nothing." Baekhyun selected his character. The both of them decided to spend the whole day playing co-op games together and time passed faster than they thought. 

When it was about time to go home, Baekhyun suggested that they stay for another round of game just to let the countdown tick itself away. Sehun agreed to the rematch and Baekhyun was feeling relieved when the situation was going according to plan. 

Just when they were about to start the game, Sehun yawned loudly and accidentally hitting the tall guy beside them when he was stretching. He quickly apologized and a phone call interrupted them. Sehun picked up the call and Baekhyun watched the latter closely.

"Yes? Okay. I will be right there." Sehun replied urgently and hung up. 

"What is it?" Baekhyun questioned when he saw Sehun starting to pack up his stuff.

"My neighbor said my mother fainted at the doorstep. I have to go home now. We can have the rematch tomorrow." Sehun waved and took his bag before running out of the PC room. Baekhyun quickly followed behind and Sehun took the shorter way out today and into the little dark streets. 

"No! Sehun!" Baekhyun called out before getting shoved into the alley by a group of gangsters who are carrying baseball bats and sticks. He shifted to the side for them to pass through and watched Sehun walking into the middle of 2 gangs who are ready to start a deathly fight. 

"So, you brought your gang today." One of the leader smirked while swinging his bat playfully. 

"Excuse me. I just need to pass through." Sehun quickly backed away to the wall and wanted to escape, but was blocked by the tall guy, who was seated beside him in the PC room. 

"Afraid? Do you think that you can excuse yourself like that?" The guy teasingly raised his brow at Sehun. 

"Come on! Let that kid out of here. It's between you and me. Let's not get the other people involved, shall we? Unless you are a weakling who likes to bully little kids for a living." The leader mocked. 

"What do you mean by weakling? Don't you bully little kids for money too? Look, who is the weakling now? And you! Little kid! I give you 10 seconds to get out of here before you get yourself involved in this." The tall guy did a countdown and Sehun quickly dashed out of the alley with Baekhyun. Both of them thought that they were safe when another gang decided to join the fight with knifes in an instant. Just then, Baekhyun saw Sehun's numbers and letters slowly turning red as the time got closer. 

"Sehun, come closer to me!" Baekhyun wanted to pull Sehun closer but he was too late as the 3rd gang members flooded the alley and a fight broke out right away. It was a mess to Baekhyun not just because of the fight but also because everything started turning red everywhere. 

He watched a few of the people dying in front of him and their numbers and letters are all bright neon red, stating that they are already dead. Baekhyun screamed as he tried to look for Sehun in the mess and saw his buddy being beaten by someone. He sprinted towards him in full speed and threw punches onto the guy before grabbing Sehun out. Blood is already trailing out of Sehun's nose when he snapped out of the daze.

"Let's get out of here, FAST!" He watched Sehun's timer counting down to zero. 

When they were about to get out of the fight zone, a guy suddenly tackled both of them down. Baekhyun threw his body over Sehun's and received a stab in the stomach before pushing the person away. Both of them knocked that person out and they limped out of the alley with blood dripping a trail behind them. 

"We need to get you to the hospital!" Sehun called out, but Baekhyun was smiling because he saw his buddy's numbers and letters disappeared in front of his eyes. 

"As long as you are safe, I am happy." Baekhyun blacked out. 

**Chapter 5**

Baekhyun woke up 3 days after his operation and felt like his body was stabbed by thousands of knives, but in reality, he only got 1 in the stomach. Luckily for him, the stab wasn’t lethal enough to hurt any organs. When he was awake, his mother was beside him and been there the whole time. Sehun visited him a few times in the evenings, feeling guilty, about everything that happened. Despite Baekhyun telling Sehun that he's alright and that he doesn't have to apologize every 5 seconds, but Sehun still sent him a fruit basket to thank him for saving his life. 

His mother already suspected his weird activities since awhile ago, but she didn’t voice it out until that night. 

"Baekhyun, can we have a talk before you fall asleep?" His mother called out when Baekhyun took his medicine provided by the nurse.

"What is it, mom?" 

"What's wrong with you recently?" 

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun raised his eyebrows as he laid back down on the hospital bed.

"Lately, you have been getting hurt more and more frequently and you are even getting into street fights now. What is happening? Did you join a gang?" His mother turned her head towards him to make eye contact, trying to figure out what is happening.

"No! I didn't join any gang." Baekhyun rubbed his arm and looked away, nervous.

"Then what is it? Tell me. I will do everything to help you, whatever it is." She stared into him like she was burning holes through his skull.

"It's nothing, Mom. Don't worry." Baekhyun assured and she kept staring at him. 

"Byun Baekhyun! Tell me right now. I don't want to see my son get himself killed without me knowing the reason behind it. I give you 10 seconds to tell me." She threatened and he gasped as her countdown started.

"Okay! Okay. I'll tell you, but you will have to believe me if I tell you." Baekhyun held up his hands to stop his mother from counting down, as he said.

"What is it, then?" His mother urged. Baekhyun cleared his throat before looking at his mother, worried if she will think that he is insane.

"I.... I was trying to save people from dying." 

"What?" His mother replied, puzzled.

"I mean... I can see people's deaths and I was trying to stop it from happening. That's why I am always injured, because I stop it." Baekhyun explained. Though he already knew that his mother will not believe his words, but he still told the truth. 

"What is this nonsense? What are you talking about? Are you trying to be a hero? Are you hurting someone so that you can save them?" His mother slapped him on the arm softly and touched his forehead to make sure that he is not having a fever. 

"I knew that you wouldn't believe me." He sighed dissappointed and then offered.

"Let's go out for a walk and I'll prove it to you." Baekhyun figured that showing it to his mother, it will explain itself better than using his own words. 

In the beginning, his mother refused to take him out, because of his wound and it was getting late, but Baekhyun told her that he wanted some fresh air to think. Therefore, Baekhyun was pushed out of the room by his mother in a wheelchair. Baekhyun thought that it was a good idea to get out of his room until he started seeing the nurses and other patients. 

Passing by the wards, Baekhyun saw the numbers and letters of some patients through the little windows on the doors. Some were turning red slowly while others were just spinning rounds in the room like a tornado above the patient's head. 

"Mom. If I show it to you, will you believe me then?" Baekhyun asked.

"Believe what?" 

"Believe that I can see other people's deaths coming." Baekhyun looked up at her.

"Well, it depends on what are you going to show to me, but are you sure that you didn't hit your head or something?" His mother looked at him and brushed the hair that was slightly covering his eyes, worried yet doubtful of his words.

"That guy is going to die soon." Baekhyun mumbled and pointed to the direction of the emergency room. When his mother turned her head over to that direction, she only managed to catch a glimpse of a guy being wheeled in by the paramedics. 

"Don’t curse him." His mother pushed Baekhyun's accusing finger down. He only looked at her with a pout and kept quiet. Then, both of them watched a few nurses and doctors rushing into the operation room. A deafening beep sound could be heard when they entered the room. 

"Let's get out of here." His mother felt a wave of shiver creeping down her spine. She hurriedly turned Baekhyun towards the mini garden. He managed to see the guy's red numbers and letters accompanied with the scene where he got ran over by a car reversing full speed at him when the paramedics got him out of the ambulance.  

"I told you so." Baekhyun mumbled again. He didn't want to look up because all the hallucination were playing everywhere when he stares for too long. 

"Do you believe me now?" Baekhyun broke the silence and closed his eyes. 

"It's just a coincidence. That guy might be saved since there are so many doctors in there." His mother prayed for the guy as she sat down on a bench. 

"It's not a coincidence! If you don't believe then...." Baekhyun looked around and pouted when he couldn’t find a person that is dying soon. 

"I can't find anyone here to prove it to you." 

"I think you might have hit your head too hard during that fight. I'll get the doctors to do a scan for you tomorrow. You are worrying me, son." His mother combed his hair and Baekhyun frowned. 

"You said that you will help me, but you don't even believe me. What's the point of the scan then?" He wheeled himself away and his mother looked at him apologetically. 

"I'm sorry. I'll believe you, but only in one condition." His mother leaned in closer. 

"You have to be safe. Promise me that." She held out her pinky finger and Baekhyun nodded while intertwining his with hers.

"I promise. I'll prove to you that I'm not lying." Baekhyun yawned and his mother stood up to push him back to his room. 

On his way back, he pointed to an infant in the nursery and asked his mother to stop. He told her that one of them is going to die that night and his mother didn't believe him at first, but the previous conversation surfaced in her mind. 

"You don't believe me, do you?" Baekhyun snapped her out of her thoughts.

"How will the baby... die?" She hesitated.

"The baby will die in her sleep. Her heart will fail and stop at 4:15AM." Baekhyun played with his fingers, not wanting to accept the truth. That baby is probably just a few days old and she was ready to report back to the Grim Reaper soon. 

"But she looks fine to me." His mother observed the baby longer and Baekhyun just shook his head.

"Not for long. Let's get out of here." Baekhyun looked down. He saw all the deaths of the infants that are in the nursery. It was very depressing, because they were probably just a few days old and Baekhyun had already saw the last moments of their lives. Some were at the age where they were lying on the bed, old and unable to move. While the others were in their middle age. One of them was at the age around 13, but he couldn't be sure because he didn't count the exact age. He shut his eyes harder to get rid of all the illusions that were pestering him as he passed by more wards.

"Mom. Can I get a painkiller? My head is hurting again." Baekhyun requested when they reached his room. 

"Sure. Let me get it from the nurse." His mother went out of the room after helping him back onto his bed.

Baekhyun started having a breakdown, because all the deaths haunted him once he closed his eyes. He wanted to help them so badly, but he was still in pain from saving Sehun. 

Though helping someone to cheat their time of death was satisfying for Baekhyun, but the consequence that follow after that is the part that he hates the most. Looking at his hands, 5 moles were left on his fingers. 3 on the left and 2 on the right, that meant that he was still half way to his goal and the pain that he had endured so far was only getting worse and it stayed longer after each saving. He wasn't sure on whether he should continue or not. 

He wanted to try and tell the person about their death, so they could avoid it by themselves without getting him involved, but after witnessing how his mother took in the information of his ability, he gave up on that idea. The person would either think that Baekhyun was crazy for cursing them to die soon or simply ignore him. And even if they believed him, they might end up living like a paranoid person and get themselves in the mental hospital for having anxiety about everything, before they could even die. 

Baekhyun did gain his mother's trust by making her believe in his words the next day. The infant really died the way Baekhyun described and his mother was shocked when she heard about it. 

Baekhyun told her everything that he had been experiencing after that to make her understand his situation better. When he asked her about the moles on his fingers, she told him that she couldn't see anything. 

Surprisingly, the moles were only visible to Baekhyun himself and he finally understood why no one questioned him about the big black dots on his fingers.

Weeks later, Baekhyun felt better and discharged. Luckily for him, it wasn't an exam period. He was allowed to miss classes and be home from then on. 

Jongdae, who visited him on every alternate day, would pass him homework and rant about school being boring without him.

Baekhyun started picking up on anime to pass time since his mother didn't allow him to leave the house during the recovery period. He will always browse through his books in the afternoon, so that he could continue with his anime at night and even pass midnight sometimes. 

One day, his mother dragged him out for groceries shopping, because they were running low on things and Jongdae wasn't around to watch over Baekhyun for her. 

Despite protesting non-stop, his mother wasn't going to take any chances of leaving Baekhyun alone at home. 

"You need to have some fresh air before you go back to school." And that's his mother's lame excuse. 

"I wanted to go out to have some fresh air, but you are the one who was stopping me from doing it." Baekhyun dragged his legs behind his mother with a trolley behind him. 

"How can I be sure that you won't get yourself involved in any bad things again? What if your wound tears and you have to go back to the hospital for more stitches? Don't forget that you ended up in this state just because you wanted to be a hero. From now onwards, you are allowed to go out only when I am around you." His mother nagged.

"But Sehun is my gaming buddy! How could I watch him die when I already know about it? Would you have let me die if you knew that my death was approaching?" Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

"It's different."

"How is it different? Sehun is my best friend! And he is like a family to me." 

"Baekhyun." His mother turned around and held him by his shoulders to make him focus on her.

"You are MY SON. I won't let anything happen to you. Sometimes, if you know that it's too much for you to handle, you just have to let things happen. I am your mother. Protecting you with my life is part of my duty. And I don't wish to see you getting yourself hurt for others. You may call me a selfish mother, but I just don't want to lose a son because of this, do you understand me?" Baekhyun was about to argue, but he saw his mother's sincerity and nodded. He knew that no matter how, he will still lose this fight. 

As both of them walked home from the market, Baekhyun suddenly stopped. His mother looked back and saw him watching a hooded man, who walked pass them. 

"Baekhyun?" She called out and Baekhyun snapped out of his gaze. 

"Mom. Didn't you said that you want me to stop saving people and protect me? There you go. That man is going to jump off a bridge somewhere around here in the next 10 minutes. We should stop him." Baekhyun pointed at the hooded man, but his mother only shushed him. 

"Don't curse that man. I know that he does look a little weird, but let's not bother other's business…... Where are you going, Byun Baekhyun?!" His mother shouted when Baekhyun turned around to chase after that hooded man along with her groceries. 

Being left with no choice, his mother followed after him to stalk that hooded man together, because one: She doesn't want him to hurt himself anymore and two: She doesn't want her eggs to be broken by the time they are back home.  

They followed him to the near bridge and the hooded man stopped at the middle of it. Looking down, he seems to be in a deep thought. So deep that he didn't noticed Baekhyun and his mother following him closely. He leaned on the railing and took his phone out. Baekhyun remembered this scene very clearly as he witnessed it before when he was saving the office lady from jumping into the train tracks. 

"Mom, I need a drink." Baekhyun whispered to his mother.

"What?" His mother wrinkled her brows at him. Baekhyun wanted to facepalm so badly, because that was the first thought that came into his mind. He wanted to react the scene again, but he forgot that he is currently standing behind a pillar in the middle of the bridge with no vending machine around. 

Shortly after that conversation, the man held up his phone to his ear and waited.

"Hello Chanyeol? It's me, Jongin." They heard him saying and kept quiet to eavesdrop on the conversation. 

"I failed. They didn't like the dance." The hooded man lowered his head to look at the river. 

"I heard that you got in. Congrats... Well, I don't know what I should do now... I have been working on this my whole life and everything just crashed down in that one second. I may have stepped out too early and panicked a little when I couldn't catch the momentum. I feel so useless now. For something that I have danced to for more than hundreds or maybe a thousand times, I shouldn't be making any mistakes. I had perfect it out in my practices, but all it took was just a few judges and anxiety to make me lose everything. I hate myself so much. Why am I like that, Chanyeol-ah?" He started sobbing quietly as he continued. 

"We have to act soon. He is just a minute away from his time." Baekhyun whispered to his mother when he watched the numbers and letters turning red as the man continued to cry.

"How are we supposed to help him? Should we just pull him away from the edge?" His mother looked at Baekhyun for ideas.

"Hey! Don't lose hope!" Baekhyun slowly walked towards the man. His mother gasped and hid behind the pillar again. The man looked up and around to see who Baekhyun was talking to. He saw no one else around except him and wiped his tears. 

"What do you want?" He lowered his phone without hanging up and the other person on the line were shouting 'Hello's at him.

"I said, don't lose hope. Don't give up just yet." Baekhyun noticed the man getting uncomfortable with the distance and shifted back a little. He stopped on his track and held up his hands. 

"It's okay. Just give me a minute to talk, can you? You can call me crazy or other names that you want to, but just give me a minute of your time." Baekhyun watched the numbers counting down from 20 seconds and he continues, trying to delay as much time as he could. 

"Do you want to hang up first so that we can talk? Your friend sounds like he is about to break your phone's speaker with his loud voice. 

"Hello Chanyeol. I had something that came up out of the sudden. I'll call you back later. Bye." He hung up without breaking eye contact with Baekhyun. 

"Stay away or I'll jump." He threatened when Baekhyun took another step closer to him. 

"NO NO NO!!! I'll stop here! Just don't jump please! I beg you!" He waved his hands like a madman to stop the hooded man.

"Just leave me alone. I have nothing left now. I might as well just die and start a new life with a brighter future." The hooded man slowly climbed onto the railing and almost instantly, his mother dashed out to pull him down from it. Everything happened so fast that the hooded man didn't have the chance to jump and Baekhyun didn't have the time to react too. 

"Don't you dare to kill yourself in front of my son!" His mother pinned the hooded man to the floor and called Baekhyun over for help. Both of them pinned him down successfully and Baekhyun watched the numbers and letters disappeared. He wasn’t sure whether is this counted as his safe or his mother's. He looked at his hand and noticed that the mole didn't disappear yet. 

"Let go of me!" The hooded man struggled hard but failed to break out of both of their grips.

"Why do you want to kill yourself?" Baekhyun asked while leaning down towards the hooded guy. 

"None of your business." He turned his head to the side to avoid having any eye contact with either of them.

"So... your name is Jongin, am I right?" His mother questioned and the hooded man snapped his head towards her with wide eyes.

"How do you know that?"

"You don't look like you are that old. Why are you giving up already? Are you like 25 or something?" Baekhyun's mother slowly let go of him and sat down beside him. 

"20. I am not that old yet." He turned his head towards Baekhyun and he jumped off him before leaning on the railing for support. 

"See! Like I've said, you are not that old yet, why are you giving up so easily? Have you worked your whole life off just so you can give up on it like that? You sounded like an old man who was just fired from his job." His mother nagged as Jongin crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the sky.

"What happened?" Baekhyun gave him a light kick, earning a glance from his mother. 

"I… Why do you even care?" Jongin barked and received a punch in the arm from Baekhyun's mother. 

"Answer the question, young man. What happened? I just saved you, so your life belongs to me now. That's why we cared."

"Ouch! Well… Where do you want me to begin with?" Jongin sat up and played with his fingers like a kid being scolded for the hundredth time. 

"What happened to make you want your life to end like this?" Baekhyun slowly sat in front of Jongin, making him peek at Baekhyun for a while.

"Well… I was practicing for this audition for an entertainment company, but I didn’t get in because I panicked and messed it up. They said I didn't practice enough, but I did! I just needed a second chance, but they refused to give me one. On the other hand, my friend, who accompanied me there, got in just because he looks good. They asked him to do a few poses and that's all he did. He didn't even want to go in for the audition in the first place. This world is so unfair!" Jongin sulked. 

"I am sure that there are other auditions in other entertainment companies too. Why don't you give them another try?" 

"Because my friend got into this company that I always wanted to go. If I join another company, I will be competing with the debut and everything. I don't want to break our friendship." 

"How about going for the next audition in the same company?" 

"They recruited a lot of trainees this time and sadly none of them is me. I am just unlucky. When you are at a crappy situation, everything just wants to bring you down." Jongin lowered his head and let out a big sigh. Baekhyun's mother just patted his head and continued to encourage him.

"It's not worth it to end your life because of that. I'm sure that you won't want all your efforts to be wasted like that, right? How about this? You get your bottom off the floor and go home. Eat everything that makes you happy and get some rest. Then call your friend when you are awake and tell him what happened. Ask him to hook you up for a second chance of audition since he is a trainee and go to every other audition that you are able to go. It's still a matter of time and luck on whether you will be debuting or not. Don't lose hope just yet. Maybe you might get into that company that you wanted and get to debut with your friend." 

"Alright... I'll try. Thanks for saving me." Jongin bowed and left the bridge. Baekhyun and his mother watched him leave before going home. Until now, Baekhyun is still unsure whether is it counted as his or his mother's safe, because no mole disappeared. 

**Chapter 6**

**Jongin's** **POV**

"Jongin, you are going to break something if you keep practicing like this." Chanyeol, Jongin's best friend, put the cup of noodles on the chair and sat on the floor, watching the dancer dancing with all his energy that he had left. 

When the song stopped, he dropped on the floor and wiped his sweat away. Chanyeol took the cup and crawled over to him. 

"Here. Your dinner on the world's fastest delivery service." Chanyeol put the cup on top of Jongin's tummy and he brightened up. 

"Thanks buddy. What will I be without you?" Jongin sat up and started stuffing the noodles into his mouth like a hungry beast. 

"You will be a pile of skeletons waiting for someone to save you from the crazy practices. Thank me when you are famous. Don't you ever forget about me. I'll haunt you for life." Chanyeol jokingly threatened while passing an open bottle of water for Jongin to drink. The latter just swallowed his noodles and the whole bottle of water like they were nothing. Once he was done, he stood up and started stretching again. 

"What are you doing? SIT DOWN! You can't exercise right after wolfing down that whole cup of noodles like that. You'll get stomach aches." Chanyeol nagged as he pulled the latter to sit down beside him. 

"Take a break! You can't practice non-stop. You will hurt yourself if you keep doing this." 

"But the audition is in just a few days' time. I can't stop now. I have been practicing for so long and I still think that my moves are not sharp enough. What if I don't get into the company? I MUST GET INTO THE COMPANY!" Jongin pumped his hand in the air, but wince when the muscle aches reminded him that they were there for a while.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Remember to relax too, because it is also part of building success. Remember the saying "Work hard, play hard"? You won't be able to focus when you are too hard on your body and it will break one day. You wouldn't want that day to be any day near today, right?" Chanyeol massaged Jongin's arms and he leaned on his friend's shoulder. 

"Accompany me to the audition, Chanyeol. I'm nervous." Jongin pouted slightly and Chanyeol laughed. 

"Yes, I will." 

Jongin practiced every day and night for the audition, extra harder on the day before of the audition. He wanted to perfect it so badly that he could dance to it even if his eyes were closed. 

On the audition day, Chanyeol picked him up with a cab to get to the venue together. Jongin didn't sleep the previous night at all and he was practicing for 30 hours without taking a break for more than 10 minutes. Chanyeol had to shower him himself, before they went to the venue in order to stop Jongin from dancing to the same song again and again. Jongin was catching up with his sleep on the way to the venue and Chanyeol lent his shoulder for Jongin to nap on, so he won't mess up the hair that Chanyeol had tried to do the whole morning. Every time when Chanyeol was done with Jongin's hair, the latter would always go for a few more rounds of practice and mess it up again.

When they reached the venue, Jongin was so nervous that he couldn't stay still. Other contestants were either doing their warm-up or resting on the chair provided by the event organizer. 

There was a small stage in front of the rows of chairs, but for Jongin, it was a big stage, because this was going to be the first time that he would perform in front of so many people. Normally, it'll just be Chanyeol and some of his friends, who were willing to give comments to him. There was a table for the judges in between the rows of chairs and the stage, and Jongin tried to peek at the nametags, but it was too far away for him. 

"Who do you think the judges will be?" Jongin asked Chanyeol and the taller just hummed. He was playing on his phone, not paying attention to his surroundings. 

"It's going to start soon! I'm so nervous. Look at everybody warming up now. Should I do some warm up too?" Jongin turned his head around, nervously, as time ticks by. His body was still aching from yesterday's practice, but his fast beating heart was pumping adrenaline through his body to keep him going. 

"Just do whatever makes you comfortable." Chanyeol's eyes didn't leave his phone until Jongin stood up and began his stretching beside him. 

"What are you doing?" Chanyeol questioned.

"How can you maintain this calmness? I am going crazy here! Help me, Chanyeol!" Jongin shook Chanyeol aggressively.

"Stop shaking! I'm getting dizzy!" 

"Okay fine. Help me then." 

"I will help you, but first, STOP SHAKING ME!!!" Chanyeol held onto Jongin's hands and freed himself when Jongin loosen his grip. Chanyeol turned him away from the stage and massaged his shoulders. 

"Just think that it's another practice session. Close your eyes and imagine that you are currently in the studio now." Chanyeol forced Jongin to sit down and continued to massage his body to relax him. 

"Alright! Are you ready for our company's grand audition?" A staff announced through the speakers, causing the contestants to scramble back to their seats.

"It's going to start now." Jongin said the obvious when he turned his chair back to face the stage. 

"Let's welcome the judges! A round of applause please!" The staff called out for the individual judges. Everybody was trying to take a good look at the judges while clapping, but Jongin just had his head down the whole time. He didn't want to see any of the judges yet, because they were going to add pressure to his current state. His mind was already a mess and he didn't need any more pressure to be add to that. Chanyeol noticed that and massaged the back of his neck to release some tension. 

Everything went by as fast as a lightning, while Jongin tried to keep himself focused. Soon, it was his turn and he was already walking up the stage and introducing himself when he came back to his senses. 

"I'm Kim Jongin, 20 years old and today, I'm going to bring you a dance that I choreographed myself. I hope that you will enjoy it." He bowed and took a few deep breaths before turning his back to the audience and judges. He felt like his body was starting to stiffen up as he took another deep breath. The music started and he didn't notice it until the second beat. Panicking, Jongin quickly turned around and tried to catch up with the music with his moves. 

Though he caught up very quickly, but the first few moves weren't in sync with the music and he knew that he screwed up. When he posed for the ending, the crowd clapped for him and he sighed, disappointed. 

"Thank you, Kim Jongin. Please wait for our call and we'll tell you the result by tomorrow. For now, let's welcome the next contestant...." The staff wanted to welcome the next person when Jongin interrupted.

"Excuse me! Can I... Have another chance?" Jongin raised up his hand and panted. Chanyeol knew that Jongin did a mistake, but he didn't think that it will be that obvious since it's a choreography made by Jongin himself. 

"No, you can't. Please leave the stage for the next person."

"Please! Just one more time. I'll be sure to do a better job this time." Jongin begged, but was dragged out of the stage by the bodyguards.

"I can walk by myself. Don't carry me like that I'll fall." Jongin struggled, but the guards left him at the very back of the hall before giving him a warning. 

"Are you alright?" Chanyeol ran up to him and checked him out from top to bottom, making sure that his friend wasn't hurt. 

"I just wanted another chance. Chanyeol-ah!!!" Jongin hugged onto Chanyeol and started sobbing onto his friend's shoulder. Using Chanyeol's sleeves to wipe his tears and mucus away, he earned a disgusted noise from the taller, but he was too depressed to function anymore. He knew that his chance of getting in is slimmer now, because of that mistake. He blamed no one but himself, because he was too focused on everything else but the music. 

"Hey. Are you a contestant?" Someone broke the silence, then Chanyeol shook his head. Jongin backed away while keeping his head down and Chanyeol shoved a tissue to wipe his face.

"Do you want to try out?" The staff asked and Chanyeol blinked. 

"Me? Try out? No thank you." Chanyeol rejected the offer, but stopped for a moment. 

"How about you give my friend here another chance with my try out? It will be a win-win situation." Chanyeol pulled Jongin over and the staff wriggled her brows. 

"You know that I can't do that, but maybe if you audition too, there is a higher chance of him getting in, because the two of you are friends?" The staff tapped her paper a few times and gave Chanyeol a nod of assurance. 

"But I haven't practice yet. I don't think I have any talent." Chanyeol looked at Jongin and the latter gave him that puppy look that he always gave when he needed something from Chanyeol. 

"You can just do some catwalks and pose a few times. Do some modelling." The staff passed the paper over to Chanyeol for him to fill in his particulars. Jongin encouraged Chanyeol to give it a try since he could get a second chance through that way. 

Hence, Chanyeol ended up standing at the side of the stage, getting ready for the person before him to be done with his singing. That person bowed and the staff introduced him up. 

"Hi. I'm... Park Chanyeol... I'm 18 years old. And... I wanted to give my friend a chance so can I welcome him up?" He bit his lips. The judges shook their heads and began writing down the result, but the staff who got Chanyeol up on stage, quickly did a pose to signal Chanyeol to follow her. He looked at Jongin and he nodded like he's giving Chanyeol approval to do it.

"Okay. Nevermind. I will do some modelling instead. I hope that you'll like it." Chanyeol said and did some posing before walking around the stage a few more times. He quickly rushed off the stage once the applauses were heard.

The next day, Jongin was woken up by a call from Chanyeol and he realized that he has passed out since last night, right after he reached home, he dropped on the couch and didn't have any meals since yesterday. Chanyeol called to ask about the call and neither of them received one yet. Hence Jongin decided to go out to buy something to eat while waiting for the call of fate. 

Jongin was about to reach the bread shop, that he always visited, when he received the call from the staff, telling him that he didn't get into the company as a trainee. At that instant, he lost his appetite and felt his heart and stomach drop to the floor when the "Sorry" word was the first word that he heard. 

_"Sorry, Kim_ _Jongin_ _. But you_ _are_ _not nominated from the audition. Don't give up just yet_ _,_ _because we will inform you when the next audition. Thank you for participating. Have a nice day."_

Jongin dropped to his knees in the middle of the street after hanging up. He was breaking down and losing hope, everything came crashing onto him like a building that just collapsed. He didn't care about the looks that he was getting at this point, because all it mattered was that his efforts were wasted. He knew his fate the moment he missed that beat. 

Earning a lot of stares from the passersby, Jongin decided to pull up his hoodie and walked aimlessly as he continued blaming himself for everything. His mind was a mess and he couldn't settle on a thought. He knew that he could have gone for other auditions with the same moves, but he just didn't feel like doing it anymore. He felt like all his practice was useless, because they didn't help him success at all. 

"What is the point of being good at practices, yet sucks in the actual game?" Jongin asked himself as he laughed with tears streaming down his face. He already answered himself in his mind, yet he couldn't accept that answer, since the failure is because of himself.

The self-blaming continued on, as his tears rolled down his cheeks like it was pouring. Jongin lowered his head slightly, so no one could see him crying his eyeballs out while walking pass people. He didn't care about where he was going or even walking, because at that moment he just wanted to end himself for making such stupid mistake.

When he reached a bridge, one of the thoughts was to jump off it and end everything. No one would know about it, since he had been withdrawing himself from socializing long time ago, when he made the decision to commit his life to dancing and that audition. Chanyeol was the only one who stayed and accompanied him during the hard times. 

He stopped at the center of the bridge and looked out of it to see the distance between the ground and himself. Making sure that it will kill him instantly instead of paralyzing him, the suicide thoughts got stronger and more powerful. His mind continued to blame him to the point where he was about to snap and jump to end everything, but he had to call Chanyeol first to say his last goodbye. Maybe he might get some attention from Chanyeol to interrupt his thoughts of dying. 

"Hello Chanyeol? It's me, Jongin." He said once Chanyeol answered his phone. 

"Hey Jongin. Did you receive the call already? I just received mine!" Chanyeol lilted. 

"I failed. They didn't like the dance. I heard that you got in." Jongin assumed from Chanyeol's tone of voice. To his surprise, Chanyeol admitted. Jongin felt his heart being squeezed so tightly when Chanyeol replied, "How do you know that? They said that I got in." 

"Congrats..." only if he could show how he felt on the inside, it would be like a heart being stabbed a thousand times. The replay of his mistake was going on in his mind and he wanted to throw himself off the bridge so no one could find him anymore. 

"Thanks! What are you going to do now?" 

"Well, I don't know what I should do now..." Jongin admitted. His mind was already in a mess before calling Chanyeol. Right after knowing that his friend got in instead of him, everything just flushed out of his mind and nothing was left, not even a single thought of hunger. 

"What do you mean?" Chanyeol realized that Jongin's tone wasn't that lively as usual and concern washed away the smile that was on his face. 

"I have been working on this my whole life and everything just crashed down in that one second. I may have stepped out too early and panicked when I couldn't catch the momentum. I feel so useless now. For something that I have danced to for more than hundreds or maybe a thousand times, I shouldn't be making any mistake on it. I had perfect it out in my practices and all it took were just a few judges and anxiety to make me lose everything. I hate myself so much. Why am I like that, Chanyeol-ah?" He started sobbing as he explained. He could hear the gasps from Chanyeol over the phone. 

Just then, a voice interrupted the conversation and Jongin turned up to see a shorter boy slowly walking up to him. 

"Hey! Don't lose hope!" The shorter boy encouraged, but Jongin had already made the decision that he will jump after Chanyeol's call. He didn't know who the kid was or what does he want.

"What do you want?" He lowered his phone and he can hear Chanyeol screaming and shouting "Hello" at him after receiving no reply from him. 

"I said, don't lose hope. Don't give up just yet." The shorter boy shifted closer again and Jongin didn't know what the latter wants from him. He took a step back, once he noticed that the distance between them is not enough for his comfort. The latter just held up his hands and Jongin thought something is going to fly out from his palm like in the movies. 

The latter started to ask him for his attention and Jongin was confused. The shorter boy moved a step closer and Jongin hung up Chanyeol's call. His instinct was to take a step closer to the edge of the bridge and climb over it to get out. 

But everything went into a blur when he was about to jump off the bridge. Though he knew that he was saved, but Jongin couldn't remember clearly of what happened after that. All he knew was that an older lady started scolding him and treating him like her son. He felt like he was back in his childhood when he was younger and the only way that he got out of scolding is to run away. Thus, Jongin quickly excused himself by telling that he wouldn't try to kill himself again before running away from the mother and son that had stopped him. 

When he reached home, he called Chanyeol to confess what happened and his friend rushed down to his house immediately after hearing the news. He didn't think that Jongin would be this fragile when he made a mistake because of himself. Chanyeol offered to exchange places with him but Jongin, as a responsible guy, refused to take his position. 

"How about this? You accompany me to the training center then you try to get a second chance by showing to them how amazing you are." Chanyeol suggested and Jongin mindlessly agreed to it, he still didn't feel okay. 

During the training days, Jongin would follow Chanyeol to the building and he would wait at that café near the building or the reception area until his friend was done for the day. The staff at the counter noticed him and asked whether he'll be interested in another job scope. 

She introduced the job scope of an assistant manager of an idol who managed the trainees to Jongin. Initially, Jongin wanted to reject the offer, but the staff told him that there was a chance that he could climb up from helping the manager to an idol position, if the manager saw potential in him. He found out that after Chanyeol became a trainee, he had been doing a job of the assistant manager as well and since he might debut, Jongin was tempted to try it out for himself. He told Chanyeol about it and his friend encouraged him to take the position since the both of them were going to be able to practice and train together in the same company. Jongin figured that since he didn't get in as a trainee, he might as well be an assistant manager, that takes care of the trainees well-being. He needed a job anyway, at least he had something to report to his parents when they question about how his life was going.

Both of them worked hard together and met up for meals during the break times to update each other. The routine went by for a few months and the news of Chanyeol debuting as an actor was out. Jongin was envious of his friend for debuting in such a short period of time, but to his surprise, Jongin was appointed to be the intern assistant manager for Chanyeol. The company saw the potential in Jongin and gave him a chance to learn from a senior manager. 

It all started with Chanyeol acting as cameo roles in dramas and gaining attention for his acting skills and handsome looks. The senior manager started taking in better jobs like longer dramas and the roles which were able to show Chanyeol's talent better to the audience. 

As for Jongin, he was taking care of Chanyeol's well-being and making sure that the latter doesn't fall ill or being stressed out because of work. They would go out for some drinks to release stress when Chanyeol ended his shift in the middle of the night. Making sure that Chanyeol knew his role well, Jongin would do researches and rehearsal with Chanyeol during their days off. Jongin tried every way that he could to help his friend to become the next rising star in the drama world. Then he would tap onto the success and feel the achievement when Chanyeol won some recognition. 

Soon, a few years passed by without them realizing how fast time flies and Chanyeol became main lead of a few bigger dramas, having a stable number of fanbases and income. The fame didn't stop him from spreading his name across to the movie industry and music industry as well. 

Though they had a little fight here and there, but they would talk it out with a drink and confession at the end of the day. The stress slowly build up within Chanyeol when his schedule became ridiculously packed. He did try to voice it out to Jongin and the senior manager, but nothing could be done, because they had already signed the contracts with the companies. All Jongin could do was to help lift as much burden off Chanyeol's shoulder as he could. 

The tables have turned, when he had to force Chanyeol to take a nap during the break time, so the latter could catch up on his rest. Forcing him to eat was the hardest to Jongin as Chanyeol was too busy and his appetite got worse for a period of time, that the fans told Jongin to stop Chanyeol from his dieting, when there was no diet in the first place. 

"Park Chanyeol! You have to eat!" Jongin nagged and shove the fruit in front of Chanyeol's script. The latter just pushed the fruit away and continued reading his script. 

"I'll call your mother if you don't eat this. It's been more than 10 hours since the last biscuit that you ate." Jongin popped his head in between of Chanyeol and his script, which gave Chanyeol a scare. 

"God! Jongin! Don't do that! I don't want to eat right now. Help me with this part. I need to act like I'm talking to someone invisible here." Chanyeol passed the script to Jongin and cleared his throat. 

"Do you know? You looked like the younger when I was practicing for the audition. Look at how the tables have turned now." Jongin shook his head. 

"Just do it! I am running out of time. I need to get ready for the next filming soon." Chanyeol looked at Jongin. 

"I will help you only if you finish eating this." Jongin kept the script behind his back and shove the fruit in front of Chanyeol. Having no other choices, his friend shoved the fruit into his mouth to finish it quickly, before continuing with his practicing. 

 **Chapter 7**  

**Back to 22 April 2011**

**Baekhyun's POV**

After the next few incidents, Baekhyun was no longer allowed to risk his life for others any more. His mother stopped him from saving lives and kept him close to her so that she would be able to see what he's doing and stop him if he tries anything. 

For at least a week, his mother lectured him about how he shouldn't have saved the seventh person from being hit by a car and ended getting hit by it himself. He ended up in the hospital for a longer time compared to the previous one when he was stabbed. His mother told him to stop, but Baekhyun couldn't. He just couldn't watch someone die in front of him, it was making him traumatized when he went outside.

Being in school every day was already making Baekhyun insane and he couldn't concentrate during lessons at all. He had been caught by the teacher for zoning out most of times. His mother was even called to school to discuss about his behavior several times already. Thus, he requested for home schooling and his mother agreed to speak with the teacher about it before Baekhyun threatens to quit school. 

It's been a year since Baekhyun started being home schooled. He started being part of Chanyeol's fan club because of the drama that he acted in, which was Death Note and followed all his dramas and activities. He always wanted to go to Chanyeol's public events at least once, but none was near to his city, let alone his house, thus he gave up the idea. The thinking of going all the way to the venue and seeing so many deaths happening in front of his eyes all around him extinguished his motivation. 

He was already left with his last 2 moles on his thumbs. And his suffering had already gotten to the point that he could lay in bed for the whole day, because of a massive headache or being partly paralyzed, he was unable to move properly. His mother wanted to bring him to the hospital, but Baekhyun refused, because he didn't want to be poked by needles again. The truth was that the hospital creeped him out. Baekhyun hated hospitals the most. He felt like he was surrounded by the numbers and letters even though he was in his private room. No matter where he walked to, there was surely one person having a turning red countdown on their timer. It's even worse to be in the hospital than to be in school. 

Today, he woke up and found out from the update accounts that Chanyeol was coming over to the mall near his house for a movie premiere event. It is to promote the new movie, 'Man-Wolf', which Baekhyun had been anticipating since the teaser photos were out. Chanyeol was the main male lead of the movie and Baekhyun wanted to be the first person to watch that movie. 

After a long consideration, Baekhyun decided to get the ticket to the premiere event and enter it at the very last minute so he wouldn't stay in the venue for too long. He told his mother about the plan and she was worried about him, yet she allowed him to go, because he always wanted to see that actor. She figured out that eventually, he had to go out one day and since with the help of the Chanyeol guy, Baekhyun is taking his first steps out, she should support him instead of stopping him. She wanted to go with him, but Baekhyun only managed to buy 1 ticket since it was already sold out when he told her about the event.

"Do you want sunglasses?" His mother watched Baekhyun picked out his outfit carefully. 

"It doesn't help at all. I will still see the numbers and letters even if it's the darkest sunglasses." Baekhyun changed into his hoodie and pulled the hood over his head. His mother helped him to put on his cap and Baekhyun pulled it lower. 

"Are you sure that you don't need me to accompany you there?" 

"I am sure, mom. I'll avoid as much as I can and come home once the event ends. In fact, you don't have the ticket to go into the event, you can't accompany me either way." Baekhyun slung his bag behind him.

"Alright. Promise me something before you go out." His mother walked him to the door and held up her pinky finger.

"Yes, I promise. I will ignore everybody and watch the movie. I will avoid myself getting involved in any deaths. I will not save anyone today and come home safely in your arms. Is that all that you wanted me to promise you?" Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he intertwined his pinky with his mother's. She would always make him promise that he doesn't save people before they go out and Baekhyun is sick and tired of it, he had heard it thousands of times. He could even repeat it word by word, because he had been promising it so many times.

"And also taking care of yourself. I don't want you to get hurt. It might be a mess there, because of the fans, so be careful of your belongings too." His mother continued to nag even when Baekhyun had left the house. 

"Yes, mom! I will! Don't worry!!!" He shouted back and walked to the mall while holding onto the strap of his sling bag tightly. He was nervous, yet excited. Nervous to meet Chanyeol and facing the crowd, but excited to watch the movie as one of the very first people. He was lucky that it was a movie premiere instead of a fan signing session or a meet and greet, because in the theater at least he could get the seats at the first few rows, so he wouldn't get distracted by the deaths details. There won't be a big crowd, because there was a fixed number of people that were able to get into the event.

Baekhyun was relieved when he reached the venue and saw that his seat was just a few rows away from the screen. Feeling grateful for being a good friend with the ticket seller, Baekhyun managed to get a good seat, all thanks to him. Letting out a relief sigh, Baekhyun sat down on his seat and closed his eyes to rest before the event starts. Though he planned to come at the exact time of the start of the movie, Baekhyun sped through the streets and the crowds so he could avoid seeing things. He had pulled his cap so low that he could only see the legs of the people walking around him. Every once in a while, he will look up for directions and quickly drop his head once he was sure that he was going in the right direction. 

The theater was noisy before the movie started and Baekhyun had a hard time trying to keep himself calm. Once the lights slowly faded away, it was replaced by screams and cheers. Baekhyun took that for a cue and open his eyes just to see the official teaser of the movie playing. His heart raced even faster and he removed his cap excitedly, to see better. His little fanboying heart emerged and he ended up screaming along with the crowd when Chanyeol appeared on screen. 

The movie officially started and Baekhyun's eyes were already fixed on the screen. He was so engrossed in the movie that he had ignored the hallucination of the death of the fans beside him that were playing around of him throughout the movie.

Time flew passed faster when Baekhyun was enjoying and the movie ended with an open ending. He was still in his deep thoughts about the movie when the credits were rolling on the screen, that he didn't notice that the fans around him were already getting restless. Suddenly, everybody started screaming and the lights switched on. Baekhyun jumped in shock and looked around to see what happened. When he found out that Chanyeol had already entered the theater, his mind went blank instantly by the sight. Chanyeol looked so handsome in real life compared to what he looked like on screen. 

"Thank you everybody for coming to the premiere today." Chanyeol spoke into a microphone. Baekhyun was so star-struck that he could only admire the idol with his mouth slightly open. 

"Did you enjoy the movie?"

"Yes!" The entire theater replied. 

Baekhyun was trying to remember Chanyeol from head to toe when he suddenly remembered that he could see his idol's numbers and letters too. Being a nosy person, Baekhyun stared at it a little longer and the scene of Chanyeol drowning in the sea emerged out from the space above his head. Blinking a few more times, he finally registered the date that was on Chanyeol's death and it was in just 9 days away from today. Gasping loudly, he caught the attention of Chanyeol and he quickly covered his mouth.

"Oh! Looks like we have a male fan here. Hello there! Did you enjoy the movie?" Chanyeol questioned and Baekhyun pointed to himself. 

"Yes. You over there. I'm talking to you. Can you come down for a moment?" Chanyeol shifted to the left and the guards came over to escort him down. The entire theater was looking at him and some of the fans were gossiping among themselves when Baekhyun made his way down the stairs. 

"Stand over here please." The manager signaled and Baekhyun stood beside Chanyeol. Looking at him closely, Baekhyun was amazed by how perfect Chanyeol looked. The thought of how his idol would be drowning disappeared for a moment while he was staring at his beauty.  

"Hello. What's your name?" Chanyeol smiled. Baekhyun swore that it was the most angelic smile that he had ever seen. His legs were about to give in, but the microphone was passed to him to reply. He took a deep breath and said his name before passing the microphone back to Chanyeol immediately. He was shy, yet worried at the same time. He was trying to figure out how can such angel be dying in a few days' time and yet mesmerized by the handsomeness at the same time. He wanted to tell Chanyeol to avoid the water more than anything, but nothing seems to be able to come out from his mouth. 

"Hello Baekhyun. Did you come alone?"

"Yes." Baekhyun nodded, not breaking the eye contact with his idol. He felt like if his eyes left Chanyeol, something bad would happen to him. 

"Which part of the movie do you like the most?" Chanyeol noticed that Baekhyun is burning holes into him with his eyes, thus he quickly held up the microphone at his mouth for him to block the line of sight. 

"You." was what came out of Baekhyun's mouth without hesitation. The entire theater went into a chaos and screams were everywhere. Chanyeol blushed and Baekhyun snapped back to his senses when he realized that the taller was trying to maintain his calmness in front of the crowd. He quickly shook his head and did a facepalm, before his face heats up in embarrassment. He didn't know that his fanboy self would go out of control. The guards and staffs had to shush the fans before allowing Chanyeol to continue his interview. 

"Thank you. How will you rate this movie?" Chanyeol passed the microphone over and waited for the answer, but Baekhyun didn't reply. He only stared at Chanyeol for the longest time before getting interrupted by the crowd's cheering. 

"9! 9 more days!" Baekhyun blundered. Everybody was confused and looked at him for more explanation. 

"What did you say? 9 more days?" Chanyeol repeated. Baekhyun quickly shook his head again and waved the topic away. 

"I mean I will rate 9 out of 10." 

"Oh! Hahaha. Thanks for the high rating!" Chanyeol laughed and the atmosphere enlightened. 

"I'm sorry." Baekhyun quickly apologized and lowered his head to avoid the replays of drowning Chanyeol. Chanyeol seems to know that Baekhyun was getting uncomfortable and the manager wrapped up the interview quickly. 

"We are running out of time. Let's take a photo and get going for the next schedule." The manager took out a camera and stepped back. 

"Alright, let's take a photo and pose together." Chanyeol announced into the microphone. He led the way and held Baekhyun by his shoulder to stand in front of the crowd while bending a little. Baekhyun followed Chanyeol and squatted down beside him. He felt his body stiffen up when Chanyeol naturally placed his hand on his shoulder and posed for the camera. He couldn't control himself because this was the first time that he came in contact with an idol up close.

"3, 2, 1, smile!" The manager took the photo and Chanyeol stood up swiftly. He helped Baekhyun up and bowed before walking out of the theater while waving goodbyes. Everything happened so fast that Baekhyun didn't register it until the fans started running out of the theater once the doors were open. He followed the fans out of the theater, but walked home instead of following them to the carpark exit to catch the last glimpse of Chanyeol. 

On his way home, he was feeling as happy as a sandboy. Chanyeol's hand that laid on his shoulder for the photo and it left a mark in his memory along with a warm feeling on his shoulder and inside his stomach. Skipping his way home, his mother was impressed when he entered the house while humming a song. 

"How did the movie premiere go?" His mother questioned.

"It was awesome! The movie was so amazing and all the effects were wonderful. Chanyeol called me out to the stage for an interview and we even took a photo together." Baekhyun singsong. 

"That's great! I'm assuming that you kept your promises?" His mother raised a brow and Baekhyun frowned.

"I didn't break them. But... I did see more numbers and letters. And I saw Chanyeol's. He is... Wait a minute! His death is just 9 days from today!" Baekhyun widened his eyes and looked at his mother, when he remembered and realized it. 

"Oh no. You won't. I won't let you do it. Ask somebody else to do it." His mother warned because she immediately knew that Baekhyun would do anything to save his idol from dying.

"But mom!" 

"No buts! You have saved enough people, Baekhyun. You said that you will stop. Don't you remember the last time that you saved the girl from getting hit? Do you want to go to the hospital again?" 

"Maybe you can save him instead."

"Are you asking me to suffer? What if I am the one who died instead of him? Do you want your idol to live more than your mother?!" His mother shouted angrily. 

"I'm sorry... I really want to save him. Let me think of a way to do it without getting myself involved." Baekhyun apologized and ran into his room before his mother could continue her long lecture on how he shouldn't risk his life anymore. 

**Chapter 8**

For the next few days, Baekhyun went researching on Chanyeol's schedule. In order to save his idol, he gathered up his courage to travel around crowded places and followed every possible schedule that he could. Looking at the stated schedules, Baekhyun couldn't figure out how would Chanyeol be ended up in the beach that he would die at. There was no filming nor activity during that day. 

While following around the idol, Baekhyun wanted to tell Chanyeol to avoid the water when he got the chance, but every time when he was getting closer to his idol, the guards would catch him and stop him before he could even be seen by Chanyeol. 

"I just need to tell him to stay away from the waters. That’s all, please pass the message to him." Baekhyun told the guard that was standing in between him and his idol. The guard just shook his head and pushed Baekhyun before escorting Chanyeol away. 

"Chanyeol, please stay away from water for the next few days!!!" Baekhyun shouted, but the screams from the fans around him were louder than him. He knew that he couldn't yelled louder than them. Thus, he thought of other ways of getting close to Chanyeol. 

**Chanyeol's** **POV**

"Do you remember that guy from the movie premiere from few days ago?" Jongin asked Chanyeol when the idol got into the van, tiredly. 

"Which guy? The guy that said he likes me?" Chanyeol closed his eyes and sighed. 

"Yes. He is here again." Jongin massaged the latter and gave him a bottle of water.

"What? Not again... How can he get around there faster than us? Is manager's driving that slow?" Chanyeol mocked and the senior manager clicked his tongue. 

"You know how the crazy fans work. They are like ninjas. Hiding in the darkness and coming out when you least expect it." Jongin joked and earned a playful punch from Chanyeol.

"Come on. Are you reading too much comics when I'm filming? Where are we going next, Mister comic manager?" 

"We are going to the filming site of the next drama. Have you prepared your script yet?" Jongin looked at his phone. 

"I've memorized it in my head. It's going to be a short one, right? If I'm not wrong, I will have another recording to go after that?" Chanyeol looked at Jongin's phone and he turned the phone away from the idol. 

"Who are you messaging? You are smiling like there is no tomorrow." Chanyeol teased and Jongin coughed away his smile. 

"It's Sehun. He is asking whether we are able to play a game tonight. He said that he is still salty about what happened last night. He wants a rematch." Jongin showed the message to Chanyeol and he laughed. 

"Let's play again after my schedule! You did bring my laptop, right?" Chanyeol asked and looked around the van for his laptop. 

"Don't get too carried away, the two of you. We are about to reach the filming set soon. Get ready." The senior manager announced when he drove into a building. 

When they have arrived at the set, they saw that a few fans had already arrived before them and Baekhyun caught their attention once again, because they had already saw him for the third time today. 

"It's that guy again." Jongin warned before he got out of the van and meet up with the guards. 

"Watch out for that guy. Don't let him get close. He is a saesang fan." Jongin told the guards before they went back to the van to escort Chanyeol out of it. 

Baekhyun rushed towards the van when he saw Chanyeol stepping out of it and shouted "Don't get near to the water!!" Chanyeol hurried into the building and disappeared around the corner without acknowledging the fans that were screaming at him. Jongin followed in and the guards blocked Baekhyun to prevent him from getting closer. 

They had marked Baekhyun as one of the "crazy fan" because every time when Baekhyun met them, he would tell Chanyeol not get close to water. He had followed them to almost every schedule and it creeped both Chanyeol and Jongin out because he would always be there to welcome them first. Since he dressed like a Grim reaper, Jongin once joked that he really was The Grim Reaper to take their lives away. 

Jongin had to deal with a lot of saesang fans and Baekhyun was just like all of them to him. Despite of the endless warnings, Baekhyun would still stubbornly follow them around and meet them at their schedules and Jongin would always prevent him from getting close to Chanyeol at all cost. Even though Baekhyun did give him a familiar feeling like he once met him somewhere before. He did ask Chanyeol if Baekhyun is their friend from before, but neither of them remembered him. 

"Are you sure that you don't want me to follow you tomorrow?" Jongin asked when he send Chanyeol home after a long and tiring day filled with work. It's been the 5th day since Baekhyun had followed them and since tomorrow was an off day for Chanyeol, Jongin was still feeling insecure. Though Baekhyun would follow them to every schedule, they were lucky that he didn't follow their van to pester them here. Jongin was just unsure whether would Chanyeol be followed tomorrow on his off day as well.

"Yes, I am sure. I won't be going out tomorrow, so I'll be fine. I need some rest." Chanyeol said. Recently, he had slowed down on his drama filming and the schedules didn't get as hectic as before. He would get an off day every once in a while, and he was thankful for that. 

"Okay. Please stay safe." Jongin dropped Chanyeol off and he waved to him before exiting the van. He walked into his house and let out a long sigh that he had been holding. His mood dropped from happiness to emptiness. The mess that he left early in the morning was waiting for him to be cleaned up. 

"How did I even end up with this?" Chanyeol bent down to pick up the broken pieces of beer bottles and stared at the reflection of the glass. 

"Is this what I really wanted?" Chanyeol questioned himself as he cleaned up his house. He clearly knew that being an actor and a celebrity wasn't going to be easy. It was even tougher when acting wasn't a part of his passion. He had been acting that he did just not to let Jongin down. Though he was already in a stable phase of his career, Chanyeol still didn't feel like he had achieved enough. He wanted more than just a few movies and dramas. He wanted to sing and play some music too, but the senior manager gunned down his idea when he volunteered to write an OST for his own drama, because the manager wanted a different path for him. 

"Is this really worth it?" He laid down on his sofa and switched on the TV to see his own drama playing. Tears slowly flow down his face as he switched around the channels. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he felt that his heart was searching for something to fill itself with. 

"Was this what they really wanted?" Chanyeol took a sip of his beer and looked at his phone. He felt lost and depressed. He wanted someone to be there for him to tell him that he is doing alright and it is his right to fight for his passion. He started blaming himself for getting into this state and tears were running down his face even more. 

"Why am I like this?" Chanyeol started drinking more, as he continued to cry. He wanted to be strong and stand up to his manager, to say that acting isn't his passion, that he wants to make music, but a part of him saw himself as that weak puppet on strings being controlled by the company used only for money and fame. He wanted to tell Jongin how much he wants to quit being an actor, because the stress was pressuring him a lot, but knowing that Jongin would be disappointed, he decided to keep it all in himself. Chanyeol kept drinking until he passed out. 

The next morning, he woke up feeling the hangover from the previous night's drinking hurting his head, but the feeling of emptiness and depression stopped him from getting out of the sofa. Even though it was his off day, he decided to waste it all away by drinking on the couch. The depression thoughts continued flooding his mind, even after he washed up and decided to go out for a drive. 

**Baekhyun's POV**

Today is the day of Chanyeol's death and Baekhyun was already waiting at the stated Beach early in the morning to patrol the area. The beach wasn't one of the popular beaches so Baekhyun only saw a few joggers around the area when he was walking around. He tried to look out for a familiar figure, but that figure didn't show up until 5 minutes before the stated death time.

When Baekhyun saw Chanyeol, he wanted to run towards him and stop him from getting near the water, but after seeing Chanyeol alighting his car, Baekhyun stopped and hid behind the trees to watch. The Chanyeol that he was seeing now wasn't that usual Chanyeol that he sees on the screen. He looks less happy and messier than before. 

Chanyeol walked towards the beach and stood in front of the sea before screaming at it. Baekhyun felt like he had seen this too often and he watched the countdown above Chanyeol slowly ticking away to his time of death. 

"Stop there!" He ran towards his idol when the countdown was just left with 1 minute's time. Chanyeol didn't turn back and started walking towards the water like he was being possessed by someone else. Baekhyun quickly tackled Chanyeol down onto the shore before he could continue walking in. 

"Get off of me!" Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun away and continued to crawl towards the water.

"I told you to stop!" Baekhyun hugged his idol tightly and pulled him out of the water. 

"Why are you stopping me?!" Chanyeol tried to push Baekhyun away, but the latter was clinging himself onto the former so tightly that he couldn't get rid of him, no matter how hard he tried.

"Because I don't want you to die!" Baekhyun shouted into Chanyeol's ear and the idol froze. It was like a wake-up call for Chanyeol to snap out of the suicidal state. Chanyeol's mind went blank and Baekhyun used the chance to drag the idol away from the water, then pinched his cheeks. 

"Ouch! What was that for!" Chanyeol whined and rubbed his cheeks. When he came back to his senses, he noticed that he was already a few meters away from the water with Baekhyun sitting on top of his body to pin him down. He couldn't move and he looked up at the guy that was pinning him down. Baekhyun cupped his face and began to squish it into different funny faces. 

"Why are you killing yourself?" Baekhyun asked and Chanyeol slapped his hands away from him. He didn't want to answer the guy, because he felt like he didn't need to, but he continued to pester him and Chanyeol exploded.

"DO I KNOW YOU? YOU ARE JUST A SAESANG FAN! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! GET OFF OF ME, PEST!" 

"Excuse me?! I just saved your life and why are you shouting at me like that?" Baekhyun pouted slightly and Chanyeol felt a wave of guilt washing over him. 

"I want to die. Why don't you let me be? Why do you have to follow me everywhere?" Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun slapped him, hard. 

"What are you talking about?! Why do you want to end your life like this?! You are a successful actor and you have a bright future ahead! WHY DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Baekhyun started crying and Chanyeol panicked, he didn't expect that and didn't really think what he was saying. 

"Okay... Don't cry. I'm sorry, please. I'm so sorry..." He wiped Baekhyun's tears away and all his suicidal thoughts were gone. Baekhyun watched the numbers and letters above Chanyeol's head disappeared and continued to cry even harder. 

"Promise me that you won't try to kill yourself again!" Baekhyun made Chanyeol swear to him before he got off of him. Chanyeol sat up and wiped Baekhyun's tears away again as the other kept on crying. He hugged onto him and let him cry onto his shoulder while comforting the latter to stop crying.

"How did you know where to find me?" Chanyeol asked when Baekhyun stopped crying a few minutes after.

"I could see your death." Baekhyun sniffed and looked down at his thumb. He had promised his mother that he wouldn't save Chanyeol, but he did. He just couldn't let his idol die in front of him and he knew what was coming next. Baekhyun could only cry it out, because he knew that the suffering is going to hit him soon and his mother was going to be even stricter after that. The mole on his thumb disappeared and only 1 was left on his left thumb. He was down to his last save. 

"What do you mean?" Chanyeol thought that he had been hiding his depression well from everybody and was shocked when Baekhyun said he was able to see it coming. He wanted to kill himself for so many nights, but because of the schedules, he didn't have the time to do it, because he always passed out after reaching home and on his couch. 

"I can see you drowning that day, when we met." 

"Are you the Grim reaper or something?" Chanyeol joked, but gasped when Baekhyun leaned on him. Baekhyun started panting and he clutched onto his chest. He felt like something was cutting off his airway and sucking all the oxygen he breathed in. He coughed a few times before fainting into Chanyeol's arms. Chanyeol was horrified by the situation and started to panic.

"Hey! Wake up!!" He patted Baekhyun's cheeks a few times and he heard the latter's heavy breathing. He checked on the latter's pulse and it was getting weaker as time passed by. He swept Baekhyun off the sand and ran to his car before speeding his way to the hospital.

**Chapter 9**

Baekhyun had been in a coma for the 2nd day and Chanyeol was still by his side. The doctors said that he had a panic attack and he should be able to wake up in a few hours, but a day had passed by and the former was still sleeping on the bed. 

They had contacted his parents and Chanyeol contacted Jongin to cancel his schedule, so that he could stay by Baekhyun's side. He wanted to be sure that Baekhyun was alright before he could continue on with his usual life. 

When Baekhyun's parents arrived at the hospital, Chanyeol explained to them what happened and Baekhyun's mother sighed. She knew that she couldn't stop her son from saving the idol, so she only prayed for a fast recovery. It's all too late to stop him, because Baekhyun snuck out of the house before she was awake that day. Knowing her son's stubbornness, she did warn him a few times before that day came, but he didn't listen. Despite of all the warning, Baekhyun still did it.

"I'm sorry." Chanyeol apologized countless times. Baekhyun's mother shook her head and held onto Baekhyun's hand.

"It's not your fault that my son is in this state. He is just too stubborn." Baekhyun's mother gave Chanyeol a pat on his back. 

Just then, the door open and Jongin came into the room to check up on Chanyeol. 

"Oh! It's you." Baekhyun's mother pointed at Jongin and he pointed at himself. 

"Excuse me, but have I seen you before?" Jongin questioned.

"Don't you remember us? We saved you from dying a few years ago." Something clicked in Jongin's mind and he remembered that Baekhyun and his mother did try to save him from his suiciding a few years back. No wonder he found Baekhyun familiar. 

"I remember! You are the mother who got me off the bridge that day! And is he the guy that talked to me?" Jongin pointed at the unconscious Baekhyun and his mother nodded. 

"Ah! No wonder I found him so familiar!" Jongin laughed at the coincidence.

"What are you doing here?" His mother asked and Jongin pointed to the confused Chanyeol. 

"I'm his manager. All thanks to you, I have a wonderful job now." Jongin shook his mother's hand and patted Chanyeol's back. 

"Chanyeol. Do you remember that day when we got our result for the audition and I called you?" Jongin asked and Chanyeol nodded. 

"I was about to jump off the bridge that day and they are the people who saved me from jumping. I didn't tell you about them, because I didn't recall what happened after that phone call." Jongin explained and Chanyeol gasped. 

"So, he is telling that truth?" Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun and everybody looked at the unconscious boy.

"What did he tell you?" 

"He said that he was able to see my death before I die. That's why he went there to stop me." Chanyeol revealed. Jongin was shocked and he turned Chanyeol towards him.

"You wanted to die?!" He asked and Chanyeol slowly nodded. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what's gotten over me and I just felt like ending my life, it's been too much for me lately... I'm sorry." 

"Don't tell me... Is he the Grim reaper?" Jongin turned towards Baekhyun and Chanyeol followed. Both of them gasped when they found out that their joke might actually be true.

"What are you talking about? He is not the Grim reaper! He is my son!" His mother snapped the duo out of their fantasy and gave Baekhyun's hand a squeeze. 

"Baekhyun-ah. Wake up and explain to them, please. They won't believe me if I told them about it." His mother prayed. She tried to explain Baekhyun's situation to the both of them, but they only got confused and question her further. She was unable to answer them, because she didn't know what Baekhyun was seeing and how he was feeling. 

Days passed by and Baekhyun was still in a coma. The doctors did some checkups on him and they couldn't find out the real reason behind his coma. They told them that the panic attack normally doesn't last long, but for Baekhyun's case, he might take longer time to recover since his body's immune system wasn't as strong as before after all the previous hospitalization. 

"Hey, Mrs Byun. I think that you should go home and catch some rest. You look very tired." Chanyeol advised, but his mother refused to leave the room. Chanyeol assured her that he would call her once Baekhyun wakes up and continued to encourage her to go home, since it was getting late and she hasn't left the ward this whole time. 

"What about you?" His mother questioned before standing up.

"I had worked for 3 days straight before. I should be able to withstand tonight with no problem. You need more rest. Let me look after him for you." Chanyeol reassured and sent her off in a cab before going back to Baekhyun's room. 

Along the way back, Chanyeol stopped by the vending machine to buy coffee. He found out that he lacked a few cents before an old lady helped him out with it. 

"Oh! Thank you!" Chanyeol thanked her for giving him what he didn't have and she looked at him with a smirk, that creeped Chanyeol out. 

"No problem. I see that you don't only have this problem here." The old lady said and Chanyeol raised his brow.

"What do you mean?" 

"Well. I can see that someone had risked his life for yours." The old lady smiled and Chanyeol felt the chills running down his spine. He didn't know what the old lady was talking about, hence he just bowed to her before taking his coffee and went back to Baekhyun's room.

"Don't you want him to wake up?" The old lady asked and Chanyeol stopped on his tracks. 

"There is a way that you can wake him up. This 'panic attack' of his is going to last a long while if you don't do it." The old lady continued and let out a low-pitched laughter. Chanyeol slowly turned back and stared at her. 

"Who are you?" 

"Who I am is not important, but I'm sure who he will be is more important to you." The old lady slowly walked up to him with a creepy smile. 

"Admit it. You have a little feeling for him, don't you?" The old lady questioned and Chanyeol took a few steps back. He didn't know what the old lady meant. All he wanted to do was leave this place. 

"Since you don't want to admit it, then let's get straight to the point then, shall we? Do you want the little boy laying on the bed back there to wake up?" The old lady pointed at Baekhyun's ward and Chanyeol widened his eyes. 

"What do you want?" Chanyeol was about to throw his coffee at the old lady when she teleported closer to him. 

"10 years. I need 10 years of your life in exchange for his." The old lady giggled before showing up her hands.

At this point, Chanyeol had already lost it. He thought that it's all a dream, because the old lady just teleported in front of his eyes. He wanted to get out of this nightmare as fast as he could, so he agreed to it immediately, but before he could run away, the old lady snapped her fingers and Chanyeol blacked out.

When he woke up, Chanyeol quickly looked around his surrounding and found out that he was sleeping on the sofa in Baekhyun's ward. He let out a sigh of relief and looked over at Baekhyun's bed. To his surprise, Baekhyun was already awake and looking at him. 

"You're awake!" Chanyeol greeted and jumped off the sofa. Baekhyun smiled and continued to look at him.

"I'll call your mother now." Chanyeol took out his phone and Baekhyun held onto the taller's hand. 

"Thank you." Baekhyun whispered. Chanyeol blinked a few times before bending down closer to him.

"What did you say?" 

"I said, thank you." Baekhyun repeated and his voice was all low and husky. Chanyeol quickly took a cup of water for him and noticed that there was a hot coffee on the table next to the water kettle. 

"Did you get this coffee?" Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun shook his head. He passed Baekhyun the cup of water and the boy continued to stare at him while drinking his water.

"Let me call your mother now." Chanyeol dialed the number and his mother picked up immediately. 

"Mrs. Byun. It is Chanyeol. Baekhyun is awake now and he looks okay. Please get some rest and visit him tomorrow. I'll get the doctors to check on him soon, everything be alright." Chanyeol reported and Baekhyun's mother said that she will be there soon, since she is still on her way home. Chanyeol felt strange and he looked at the time. He gulped when he noticed that only 15 minutes had passed. He hung up and looked at Baekhyun again. 

"Your mother is on her way now." He announced and Baekhyun nodded. 

"Thank you so much." Baekhyun continue to thank Chanyeol.

"How did you know that I was about to die?" Chanyeol questioned. 

"I could see everybody's death and yours was screaming at me when I looked at you. Thus, I knew that you were about to die." Baekhyun shrugged and smiled. 

"How long have you been awake just now?" 

"Not very long. I heard your voice calling out to me and I followed it. Then I went out of the darkness and I just woke up like that. Then I turned to my side and saw you sleeping on the sofa. That's when you woke up too." Baekhyun explained. 

When his mother went back to the ward, she hugged Baekhyun tightly and he was glad to see her again. 

"I told you to not save any more people and you did! Look at yourself now!" His mother nagged and Baekhyun stared at her for a long time before she covered his eyes. 

"Mom! I don't see the numbers and letters anymore! I won't be able to save anybody now!" Baekhyun cheered and held onto his mother's hand tightly. 

It was then, Chanyeol started to question himself: 

_'Who_ _wa_ _s that old lady? Who b_ _r_ _ought that coffee here? What is happening_ _? Is this all a dream? Am I still sleeping? Did I exchange my life for Baekhyun's?'_

He gave himself a slap on the face and the pain felt real enough. Chanyeol gasped, "It's not a dream..."

**THE END**


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